Venkatesh Prasad Blames Gambhir for ‘Tactical Errors’ After India’s 2-0 Defeat

Venkatesh Prasad directly criticised Gautam Gambhir after India’s 2-0 loss to South Africa, saying the team’s poor tactics and repeated mistakes can’t be excused as “transition.”

Former India pacer and new KSCA president Venkatesh Prasad criticised head coach Gautam Gambhir after India’s 2-0 Test series defeat to South Africa, saying the setback had little to do with transition and more to do with repeated tactical mistakes. India’s 408-run loss in Guwahati, their heaviest in Test cricket, completed only their third home whitewash, with two coming during Gambhir’s tenure.

Prasad highlighted India’s long list of experienced players and argued that the constant push for all-rounders and frequent changes disrupted stability.

“We cannot hide under the garb of transition,” Prasad wrote on X.

“Barring Sudarshan, Jurel and Reddy, most of the guys have been around for 7-8 years. Some very experienced campaigners. This is a series of tactical errors, obsession with playing all-rounders and not wanting to learn from mistakes. Embarrassing,” he added.

We cannot hide under the garb of transition.
Barring Sudarshan, Jurel and Reddy, most of the guys have been around for 7-8 years. Some very experienced campaigners. This is a series of tactical errors , obsession with playing all-rounders and not wanting to learn from mistakes.…

— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) November 26, 2025

Really disappointed by how India is going about in Test cricket. The all-rounder obsession is absolute brain-fade especially when you don’t bowl them.
Rank Poor tactics, poor skills , poor body language and an unprecedented 2 series white wash at home. Hope this does not get…

— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) November 26, 2025

‘Too Many Changes, No Stability’: Anil Kumble on India’s Strategy

Anil Kumble echoed the concerns on the broadcast, pointing out that India lacked a clear direction after the exits of senior players over the past year.

“Test match cricket requires a different mindset, you can’t really have so many all rounders, so much chopping and changing, so many changes in the batting order, in the team itself. Every second game you have a new player coming in, couple of guys get dropped,” Kumble said.

“The past year has seen the exits of Virat Kohli, R Ashwin, Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma from the Test arena, leaving a young group to fill massive shoes. I think India needs to sit down and think and ponder. You can’t forget these results, you need to have a discussion around how you see Indian Test cricket go forward. Stalwarts have retired in the last 6-8 months and when that happens you need to have a vision and have a conversation as to what the team has to do,” he continued.

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“You can’t get players in a side and hope they will develop and grow in the team. It can’t happen, you can have 1 or 2 players like that in the line up if you have 8-9 strong players who have the experience. But you can’t have 1-2 experienced batters and bowlers and the rest of them are trying to find their feet,” the former cricketer concluded.