South African captain Temba Bavuma has shared his opinion on the current situation of the Indian Test team in an article written for Cricinfo. He believes that while India is a very strong team in white ball (ODI and T20) cricket, in Test cricket it is currently going through a ‘transition phase’.
ireland
156/7
19.0 over
united arab emirates
YTB
UAE decided to bowl
Bangladesh Under-19
6/0
1.2 ov
Zimbabwe Under-19
YTB
Bangladesh Under-19 batting decision
Bengal
200/10
193/10
Haryana
68/4
100/10
Haryana needs 226 runs to win
Uttarakhand
460/7d
Assam
57/1
140/10
Assam trailed by 263 runs
Baroda
375/10
Tamil Nadu
230/1
Tamil Nadu trailed by 145 runs
Chattisgarh
283/10
Hyderabad
585/7
Hyderabad has a lead of 302 runs
Punjab
309/10
Karnataka
274/6
Karnataka behind by 35 runs
Madhya Pradesh
244/8
187/10
Maharashtra
179/10
Madhya Pradesh has a lead of 252 runs
Himachal Pradesh
168/10
Jammu and Kashmir
538/7
Jammu and Kashmir has a lead of 370 runs
services
83/4
343/10
Railways
212/10
Services lead by 214 runs
Gujarat
352/10
Tripura
323/4
Tripura trailed by 29 runs
Nagaland
0/0
366/10
andhra
536/9d
Nagaland trailed by 170 runs
Delhi
49/0
221/10
Mumbai
317/10
Delhi behind by 47 runs
Uttar Pradesh
165/7
237/10
Vidarbha
237/10
Uttar Pradesh has a lead of 165 runs
Odisha
82/2
282/10
Jharkhand
263/10
Odisha has a lead of 101 runs
According to Bavuma, the absence of veteran players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the Test matches has exposed the weaknesses of the team. He has compared this situation with the period of 2019, when South Africa also had to face similar difficulties after the departure of its big players. Bavuma said that the presence of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in ODIs gives strength to India, but the absence of these two in Tests has exposed the weakness of the team. Comparing it with the South African Test team of 2019, he said that every team has to face such a phase after the departure of big players and there is nothing unusual in it. Taking the side of head coach Gautam Gambhir, Bavuma has advised the BCCI not to put pressure on him and give him full support and a long time till the 2027 ODI World Cup. Bavuma opposed the model of having different coaches for different formats, saying that this creates confusion among the players. According to him, Gambhir has good resources in white-ball cricket and the presence of Kohli and Rohit in ODIs will be a relief for the coach, which can give him time to deal with the challenges of Tests. Bavuma also underlined that Shubman Gill’s injury in the first Test against South Africa proved to be a big blow for India, due to which the team had to field Rishabh Pant as the temporary captain and the opposition team took advantage of this. He finally suggested that the Indian team needs to remain calm in this difficult period of change and the senior players should step forward and take responsibility. Bavuma believes that even though these times are challenging, this is the right path to lay the foundation of a strong Test team of the future.
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For your information, let us tell you that in the last months of the year 2025, when the South African team was on the tour of India, it played a series of 2 Tests, 3 ODIs and 5 T20 matches with India. India had won the ODI series 2-1, while under the captaincy of Surya, the Indian team was dominating in T-20. But South Africa created history for the first time by making a clean sweep against India on Indian soil and defeated India 2-0 in the two-match Test series, after which questions were raised on Gambhir’s coaching, and there was also discussion about what were the reasons why Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma had to say goodbye to Test cricket untimely.
