“I would have taken the first responsibility” - Ravi Shastri refuses to protect Gautam Gambhir after India’s record loss in Guwahati Test

Ravi Shastri has refrained to offer any defence of India head coach Gautam Gambhir after the hosts suffered a humiliating 408-run defeat to South Africa in the second Test in Guwahati. The result was India’s biggest Test loss in terms of runs and secured a 0-2 series defeat. 

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It was also India’s second home whitewash in recent years, following their 0-3 hammering by New Zealand in 2024. Since Gambhir succeeded Rahul Dravid as head coach in July 2024, India’s red-ball form has been far from convincing.

Indian cricket had reached previously unheard-of heights under Shastri and then-captain Virat Kohli, making the Test team one of the most fearsome traveling teams in the contemporary age. India lost only two home Tests throughout Kohli’s tenure, at Pune (2017) and Chennai (2021), making triumphs on home soil nearly a foreseeable conclusion during that span.

"You tell me. What happened in Guwahati—from 100/1, you skip to 130/7—this team is not that bad either. They have this much talent at least. The players should take some responsibility too. You have played spin since you started playing cricket," Shastri said in a teaser podcast released by Prabhat Khabar.

When asked by the interviewer if he is protecting head coach Gautam Gambhir, Shastri refused to do so.

"I’m not protecting [him]. 100 percent (he is responsible too). When am I saying anything otherwise? Agar yeh mere saath hota, main pehla responsibility leta (Had this happened with me, I would have been the first one to take responsibility. But then, I wouldn’t have spared the players either in the team meeting),” Shastri added.

Shastri remains India's most successful head coach, concluding his term from 2017 to 2021 with an astounding 65 percent win rate across formats. During his tenure, India won its first Test series in Australia and replicated the feat three years later. 

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Between 2016 and 2021, the team held the top Test ranking for 42 months in a row and advanced to the final of the inaugural World Test Championship. 

Rahul Dravid's tenure began with a series setback in South Africa, but India swiftly regained its footing, dominating Australia and England at home in 2023 and 2024, and qualifying for a second World Cup final.

In comparison, Gambhir’s term as head coach has been significantly less beneficial. India has recorded just two Test series wins—against Bangladesh and the West Indies—while suffering setbacks to New Zealand, Australia, and most recently South Africa. The only bright light was a tough, hard-earned series draw in England.

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