'It's Going To Be Tough For India In Red-Ball Cricket': Temba Bavuma Sends Stern Warning

South Africa’s Test captain and World Test Championship winner, Temba Bavuma, has said that although the T20 World Cup might well be in India’s favour with the tournament being held at home, and Rohit

Sharma and Virat Kohli will hold the fort together in ODIs, it would be a tough outing for India in red-ball cricket in the near future.

India had gone undefeated at home for 12 years before New Zealand breached the fortress in 2024, sealing a brilliant 3-0 sweep in the three-match series.

Last year, South Africa bagged their first away series win against India since 2000, as worries increased for the hosts.

“In limited-overs cricket, India have a lot of resources from which to select. The 2026 T20 World Cup is also in their favour, as it will be on home ground, co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka in February-March,” Bavuma wrote in his column for ESPNCricinfo.

“In ODIs, Kohli and Rohit will take on a lot more responsibility from a performance and leadership point of view. So I think Gambhir will be okay in terms of his position. However, from a red-ball point of view, it is going to be tough for this Indian team in the near future,” Bavuma added.

People have argued that Gambhir should continue focusing on white-ball cricket, with the Test responsibilities handed to someone else. Bavuma pointed out how South Africa experimented with splitting the red and white-ball coaching within the setup back in 2023.

“At the time there was sense behind the split rule. But now having one coach across all formats works a lot better for players from a continuity point of view. Moreover, it is advantageous from a philosophy and playing style point of view,” Bavuma said.

“I don’t think a lot of teams are going with the split-format system anymore and to be honest, I am not really in favour of that rule. If anything, it just confuses the players, because in one format a certain type of language is spoken and then in another format, a couple of weeks later, you need to adjust,” Bavuma added.