Gautam Gambhir highlights white-ball achievements after South Africa whitewash

GUWAHATI: Head coach Gautam Gambhir highlighted the white-ball accolades the India men's cricket team won during his ongoing tenure following their 2-0 home Test series whitewash at the hands of South Africa on Wednesday.

The Men in Blue succumbed to a new low in the longest format earlier today as they suffered their heaviest defeat in Tests by the margin of runs – a 408-run drubbing in the second match against South Africa.

The defeat marked India's first against South Africa at home in 25 years and added to their recent dismal performances in the longest format, which saw them surrender the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) against Australia and a 3-0 whitewash against New Zealand last November.

Notably, India only suffered three whitewash defeats in home conditions overall, out of which two came under Gambhir's tenure.

India's recent fallout in the format has put Gambhir under immense scrutiny, but the former opener defended the decisions made by the management heading into the series.

He further argued that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should decide whether he should continue serving as the head coach following their historic defeat, while backing his credentials by highlighting the team's achievements in white-ball cricket.

"There's no hindsight in sports. Whatever decisions we took, we took in the best interest of the team, and we absolutely believed that those were in the best interest of the team," Gambhir said.

"It is upon BCCI to decide. I said it in my first press conference when I took over as head coach. Indian cricket is important, I'm not important.

"And people keep forgetting about it, I'm the same guy who got results for the team in England. With a very young team. And I’m the same guy who won Champions Trophy and Asia Cup as well."

Gambhir further argued that the defeat against South Africa was different to that against New Zealand last year, as that team was more experienced at that time.

Notably, India had the services of the established batting duo of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, alongside veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, in the New Zealand series, who have all retired from the format.

"The series against New Zealand was played with a very different team. The experience in that batting line-up and this batting line-up is chalk and cheese," Gambhir said.

"Four or five batters in this top eight have played literally less than 15 Test matches," he added.

However, the India head coach backed the current group of players to "grow" and "keep learning", stressing that they need time to absorb pressure.

"And they will grow, they are learning on the job. They're learning on the field. Test cricket is never easy when you are playing against a top quality side. See you've got to give them time as well," Gambhir continued.

"Hopefully they keep learning as well. This is exactly what transition is, when you've got your batting lineup which has played less than 15-20 Test matches.

"They need time to absorb pressure and they need time to get better against quality attacks and quality sides."