BCCI announces final verdict on Gautam Gambhir, Ajit Agarkar’s future after embarrassing loss to South Africa
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Despite a second whitewash within a span of 12 months, Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir and Men's Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar are likely to continue in their roles with no major changes forced by the BCCI.
India recently suffered one of their most humiliating losses in the history of the game. The team has been whitewashed for the second time in 12 months in a home series by the visiting teams. First, New Zealand defeated them 3-0 in 2024, and now South Africa in 2025.
Gautam Gambhir had to face more of the heat after the defeat than the players who actually failed to perform. He has been booed in Guwahati and has been blasted by the Indian media for a string of poor performances in the format.
BCCI to make no major move on Gautam Gambhir after humiliating Test show
The defeat against South Africa was the third straight series defeat and the second at home for India in Test cricket ever since Gautam Gambhir took charge as the head coach of the Indian team.
After the Guwahati Test defeat, the press fired at the Indian head coach, and he was asked if he felt he was the right man to continue in the role for Team India in Test cricket. The former Indian player quickly turned it down to the BCCI to make such decisions.
Despite the series loss, a string of poor performances, and controversial strategies that have often backfired for the Indian head coach, the BCCI is not looking forward to making any managerial changes. They are likely to continue with the same set of players as well as team management officials.
“The BCCI will not rush into taking any decision; the team is in a transition phase. As far as coach Gautam Gambhir is concerned, we will not take any decision on him as the World Cup is around the corner and his contract is till the 2027 World Cup. The BCCI will speak to selectors and team management going ahead, but there won’t be any knee-jerk action,” a BCCI official said, as quoted by the Indian Express.
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— Vaibhav Bhola 🇮🇳 (@VibhuBhola) November 26, 2025
❗️ Gautam Gambhir Will Not Be Removed From Test Coaching Role - Top BCCI Source ❗️
He Will Continue Till 2027 World Cup pic.twitter.com/DPbFqvyLfV
Gautam Gambhir holds the entire team responsible for the defeat in Guwahati
Speaking in Guwahati, Gautam Gambhir was questioned on where the responsibility starts for the defeat. Gambhir was quick to shoot back immediately:
“Everyone in that dressing room, and it starts with me, to everyone in that dressing room. I’m not going to be someone who’s going to say that it lies with X, Y or Z. It lies with everyone sitting in that room, as simple as it can get. That is what team sport is all about,” he said at the press conference.
After identifying every player and official in the dressing room responsible for the defeat, he returned to India's batting in the first innings and highlighted that their batters had lost too many wickets to hand the early advantage to the Proteas, which they never actually relinquished.
Gautam Gambhir doesn't want excuses but lists many
While the BCCI is unlikely to make any changes, given such a humiliating loss, especially at home, they are likely to call for a meeting to discuss the way forward.
Speaking in Guwahati, India, after losing the Test series, head coach Gautam Gambhir repeated several times that he doesn't prefer giving excuses, but throughout the long press conference, he kept blaming either a young team or India's transition phase, and lastly, also mentioned the poor scheduling to be one of the reasons that might have led to the defeat.
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