By Admin 
South Africa has won the 2-match Test series 2-0 by defeating India by a huge margin of 408 runs in Guwahati. Team India failed in every field in the second test. One of the 5 major reasons for this defeat is the strategy of coach Gautam Gambhir, which failed in Guwahati. Lack of experience was clearly visible under the captaincy of Rishabh Pant. There is still confusion regarding the batting order. In the first Test, Washington Sundar was tried at number three, he also batted well but due to the arrival of Sai Sudarshan in the next Test, he again had to move down to the lower order.
1. Extra all-rounders
India gave importance to additional all-rounders in this series instead of Test specialist players, this strategy was a complete failure of Team India. All-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy was playing in the second test, but he bowled only 6 overs in the first innings and 4 overs in the second innings. India could have played a better specialist batsman than this. Apart from him, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar were the other two all-rounders playing.
2. Experiment number 3 failed
The experiment of number-3 in the Indian batting order failed in this series also. After Cheteshwar Pujara, India is not able to set any batsman in this position. In the first test, Washington Sundar batted at number three, Sai Sudarshan came in this match. Sudarshan failed in both the innings.
3. Indian batsmen kneeled in front of spin.
There is a perception about Indian batsmen that they play spin well, but this was not seen at all in this series. South Africa’s batsmen played better spin than Team India’s batsmen. Simon Harmer had scored 119 runs on this pitch, Marco Jansen had played a quick inning of 93 runs.
4. Lack of experience seen in the captain
Rishabh Pant was playing his first Test as captain, his lack of experience was clearly visible. His body language also looked tired in the second innings of South Africa. This team has experienced players like Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, although he was seen taking advice from them in the test but nothing was successful. When India was in trouble in the first innings, Rishabh Pant lost his wicket by playing an irresponsible shot. Pant, who scored 7 runs in the first innings, could score only 13 runs in the second innings.
Test captain Shubman Gill left the field in the first Test due to neck cramps. He could not bat in the first test and had to be ruled out of the second test also.
5. Gautam Gambhir’s strategy
Both India’s wicket keepers Dhruv Jurel and Rishabh Pant were included in the playing 11 in both the Tests against South Africa. This was a shocking decision. Jurel certainly did good fielding, but with the bat he completely flopped in the second test. In the first innings of the second Test, Jurel was out for zero, in the second innings he was out after scoring 2 runs. There was also uncertainty regarding the batting order in the playing 11.