Although India captain Suryakumar Yadav took the responsibility for not having batted deeper into the chase in the India vs South Africa 2nd T20I, the problem seems to be much more than just a failed chase.
While a defeat in the second game of a home bilateral T20I series is rarely remembered by the fans, the Indian T20I team’s issues are slowly cropping up. And that is despite India winning all their T20I series since their triumph at the ICC T20 World Cup 2024.
Where Gautam Gambhir stormed into the role of India’s coach last year after his role as a mentor in KKR’s IPL 2024 victory, his tactics now are being questioned; the general feeling is that Gambhir is overdoing his tactics in T20Is with his all-rounder theory and the constant shuffling of the batting order.
Matters for Gambhir and Suryakumar have been further compounded by the lean run with the bat in T20Is for Suryakumar and vice-captain Shubman Gill.
The fact that the Gambhir-Suryakumar management group decided to replace Sanju Samson with Gill in spite of Samson’s stunning form as an opener last year.
In the IND vs SA 2nd T20I, played on a good pitch in Mullanpur, Gill and Suryakumar both had a great opportunity to ransack runs and even hit a match-winning knock as India were set a tall target of 214.
But the duo failed, the opener bagging a golden duck and the captain scoring 5 (4). In T20Is in 2025, Gill has averaged 23 and Suryakumar only 14, with neither of them getting even a single half-century in their combined 31 innings!
While captain Suryakumar has plenty of credit in the bank—the team is on a winning run in T20Is under him, and his match-winning ability in the shortest format is staggering—Gill getting Samson’s place as an opener and also being appointed the vice-captain as the BCCI aims to establish him as the new all-format lynchpin remains a baffling case study.
Not to forget that Yashasvi Jaiswal isn’t even part of the T20I squad anymore even though he was part of the T20 World Cup-winning squad last year and not Gill.
It was a game where four of India’s key match-winners—Hardik Pandya, Abhishek Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and Arshdeep Singh—underperformed, and others failed to step up.
Add to it the decision to promote Axar Patel to No. 3, who struggled markedly in his innings of 21 (21) in Mullanpur, and Gautam Gambhir has plenty of questions to answer to himself.
IND vs SA: Indian fans criticised and trolled Gautam Gambhir and Suryakumar Yadav as India slumped to a big defeat in the 2nd T20I
IND vs SA: When and where is the India vs South Africa 3rd T20I match?
The third T20I between India and South Africa will be played on Sunday in Dharamsala. The series currently is leveled at 1-1.
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