Rohit-Gambhir Era: Is It The Darkest Phase Of Indian Test Cricket?

Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma [Source: @SPORTYVISHAL/x.com]

India have suffered another series defeat with Gautam Gambhir the head coach of the team. This is their second series defeat since the ex-KKR mentor has taken up the role. Not only in Test cricket, the team has lacked belief and confidence even in ODIs. The fact that this phase has arrived in Indian cricket immediately after winning the T20 World Cup 2024 under Rahul Dravid in the post has disappointed the fans the most.

The way the team has approached the games and the way they have performed has led the fans to call the Rohit-Gambhir era as the darkest phase of Indian cricket. How justified is the claim by the Indian fans, here is a deep analysis of India's performance under Gambhir and finding an answer to that. 

The Downfall In The Last 7 Months

Here is a look at the lows that India have hit since Gautam Gambhir has taken over as the Head Coach of the team - 

• Losing ODI Series Against Sri Lanka After 27 Years
• Getting Whitewashed On Home Turf For The First Time In The History
• Losing A Home Test Series After 12 Years
• Losing The Border Gavaskar Trophy After 10 Years

Comparing India's Performance Under The Last Four Coach-Captain Partnerships

With the Champions Trophy 2025 coming up, these will keep the Indian fans and the management concerned. Now let us compare the last three coach-captain pairs of India, especially in Test cricket  - 

If we look at this table it becomes clear that there has been a huge deep in the performances of the Indian team after the Rohit Sharma-Rahul Dravid era. If we look at the last four coach-captain pairs of India then we can see that India did not win a Test with Kohli and Dravid in the roles, but the sample size in that case is too small.

However, in the Rohit-Gambhir era, after 10 Test matches, the team is struggling to find a rhythm and it is reflected in the numbers during the phase. A straight 50% dip in winning percentage does justify the claims that the current era is probably one of the most darkest phases of Indian cricket so far.

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