'More Occupied With T20s & ODIs': Kapil Dev Blasts India After Whitewash In Home Test Series Vs South Africa

Former India captain and legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev has slammed Team India for their horror show in the recently concluded two-match Test series against South Africa. India suffered humiliating defeats

in both the red-ball matches played against the WTC 2025 winners. In the series opener India failed to chase down the target of 124 runs to go down by 30 runs and in the second Test at Guwahati’s Barspara Cricket Stadium, India conceded a defeat by a record margin of 408 runs. In both the Tests, Indian batters struggled to score runs against South African spinners Simon Harmer.

Kapil was critical of Indian batter’s performance in the home series and he also slammed the quality of Indian pitches.

“I just want to know how many of today’s top players are playing domestic cricket. That’s the most crucial thing. If you don’t play domestic cricket and don’t face quality bowlers, you are going to struggle,” Kapil told Sportstar.

According to the 1983 World Cup winning team captain, “The pitches are very, very important. Not the type where the game ends in two and a half days. You lose the toss and lose the game. What is the point of having a pitch where no team crosses 200? It is not good for the state of the five-day game.”

“We are more occupied with T20s and ODIs, which means the batters hardly encounter bowler-friendly pitches. On surfaces offering a lot of help to spin and seam, you need patience and a different set of skills to thrive. Once you are ready to play on those pitches, your mindset affects how you tackle them. You do not have batters like Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, who knew how to stay at the wicket. Batting in Tests is about staying in the middle,” he was quoted as saying by Sportstar.

“You need better skills to tackle spin than to play pace, but it depends on the state of the pitch. If the turn or bounce is vicious, it becomes very difficult. Remember, footwork plays an important role,” he added.

Kapil feels the solution to Indian batter’s struggle against spin in playing more matches in domestic cricket.

“I was surprised that India lost to New Zealand and South Africa at home, but we should have prepared better. Test cricket is different. You ask a person like me to defend, it will not work. But you ask someone like Ravi Shastri to bat the whole day, he will do it. Jimmy Amarnath and Sunil Gavaskar could stay in the middle for the entire day. They had the temperament because they played a lot of domestic cricket.”