India’s recent Test series against South Africa ended in a historic defeat for the hosts. The losses have not only exposed technical issues but have also triggered strong reactions from former cricketers.
Among them, Harbhajan Singh urged Indian cricket to prioritise long-term development over short-term home dominance.
India’s decade-long dominance at home had been constructed on spin-heavy surfaces that largely favoured quick finishes. But since New Zealand ended that streak in 2024, India’s vulnerabilities have been repeatedly exposed. South Africa capitalised again this time, hammering India with convincing wins, especially in Guwahati. The result increased concerns about India’s ability to play traditional, five-day Test cricket.
Harbhajan expressed frustration at India’s deterioration in red-ball fundamentals. He said that Indian batters today do not know how to play five-day Test cricket because they have grown accustomed to pitches ending matches in two or three days. According to him, such surfaces have not only hurt skill development but have also directly contributed to the decline in averages of stalwarts like Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Ajinkya Rahane.
"We do not know how to play matches for five days. We have gotten so used to playing on wickets where matches last two or three days. After 2011-12, there have been so many such matches and very few go to the fifth day. Such pitches were not the norm back in the day. Nowadays, they have reduced the averages of our batters like Virat Kohli, Pujara, and Rahane to 35-40 from 50. You cannot play slowly or fast on these pitches. There is nothing left on these pitches for the batters. Our old greats were great because they knew how to play five days of Test cricket," he said on his YouTube channel.
Leave those wins behind: Harbhajan Singh
The former requested that team management forget the last 10–12 years of spin-friendly wins and instead demand better, balanced pitches to prepare future generations. He stated that good wickets promote qualities that are missing in India’s recent performances.
"For the betterment of Indian cricket, I think they should forget what has happened in the last 10 to 12 years, what pitches they have played on. Leave those wins behind. They look good in records, fine, but start playing on better wickets to save the future generation of Indian cricket. The kind of temperament needed to play Test cricket requires effort, hard work, discipline, and I feel that for many years this has been missing. Because matches get over in two-and-a-half or three days, everyone goes home, the broadcaster suffers, and people who bought tickets suffer. But what happens on a good wicket? A good wicket makes the game last five days. And then you find out who the real winner is. This lottery-type situation-earlier New Zealand got lucky, now South Africa got lucky in the first match-because the pitch was such that no one even knew what was going to happen," he added.
Pointing to the Guwahati Test, Harbhajan said the pitch was good enough to bat on, yet India collapsed for 201 and 140. He stressed Marco Jansen’s six-wicket haul on Day 2 and South Africa’s scores of 489 in the first innings and 260/5 in the second.
"Now, coming to the second match. South Africa won the toss on this pitch and made 489. You might say the pitch is good on the first day, fine. But even in the second innings, they scored 260 runs and lost only five wickets. And how many did you make in the first innings? 201. Fine, the team got all out, maybe the surface had a little bit of something happening, some spin, but you did not get out to spin. Who took six wickets? Jansen did-a fast bowler. And then in the second innings, Team India collapsed for 140. And look, they made 260 there and you made only 140. So this is not just the fault of the pitch. I feel the biggest fault is your temperament," Harbhajan concluded.
