IND vs SA 2025-26: India’s overload of left-handers raises balance concerns — will the team make changes for the 2nd Test?
With Team India’s 30-run defeat against South Africa at Eden Gardens, they have now faced four defeats in their last six home Tests. Their two victories came against the eighth-ranked West Indies side. If the Blue Brigade lose their second game in Guwahati against the Proteas, it would be their second home Test series defeat in the last three attempts. It would be unacceptable for a side who were unbeaten at home for 12 years in the five-day format.
At Eden Gardens, the Indian management picked an unbalanced eleven against South Africa. They fielded six left-handed batters, which is the maximum in their Test history. This decision came despite knowing that off-spinner Simon Harmer would be a handful against those Southpaws.
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Simon Harmer’s clinical performance against India’s six left-handed batters
The left-handed batters tend to struggle against off-spinners, who spin the ball away from them. On a surface where the balls spun sharply, the India batters got out to straight deliveries and were foxed by pace variations.
Harmer’s first wicket of the Kolkata Test came on the morning of the second day. Washington Sundar could have done very little to negotiate the ripper. The previous delivery spun back to the southpaw. However, the wicket delivery spun away from the stump line and took the outside edge to end up in the hands of the slip fielder.
Ravindra Jadeja continued his long-time error against the spinners. It was an arm ball from Harmer that Jadeja didn’t expect at all. He lunged forward in defence, but the bat was hidden behind the pad. The umpire raised his finger straightaway as the replay couldn’t save the Saurashtra all-rounder. Axar Patel got a fat top edge as the ball lobbed up towards backward point.
Out of Simon Harmer’s four wickets in the first innings, three of them were left-handed batters. The 36-year-old continued the same trend in the second innings.
His dismissal of stand-in India captain, Rishabh Pant, was a classic one. Before that wicket-delivery, Pant was all at sea against the Protea spinner, and Harmer realized the southpaw was eager to play a big shot to release pressure. He slowed down the pace of the delivery and got it to drift as Pant chipped a simple return catch.
Harmer again foxed Jadeja with a flighted delivery that dipped nicely on the batter. The India veteran kept his bat behind the pad and got hit on the boot on the half-volley as the umpire raised his finger. Out of eight wickets for the Pretoria-born in Kolkata, six of them were India’s left-handed batters.
This is a sign of how much the management got the balance wrong in the combination. Moreover, Shubman Gill’s neck injury eliminated that rare right-handed batter in the top order.
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India need to tinker with combination ahead of Guwahati Test
Undoubtedly, India’s decision to field six left-handed batters backfired on them. However, the issue was an imbalanced team combination.
The biggest mistake from the management was putting several all-rounders in the eleven. There was no requirement to go with four spinners in the eleven. Moreover, they sent Sundar at number three by dropping Sai Sudharsan, who scored 87 and 39 in his previous Test.
Sundar batted at three in his last Ranji Trophy clash for Tamil Nadu, while Jadeja bats at four for Saurashtra. But neither of them is a specialist in the role of top-order batters. Batters need to focus on only their batting, while for the all-rounders, it’s totally different. In the longest format, team selection becomes really vital. India could have gone with two spinners, something which they did in the past with Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin.
Meanwhile, the hosts would also have another concern regarding the success of their spinners. The two Protea spinners, Maharaj and Harmer, looked more threatening against the India batters. They outplayed the four home spinners in various parts of the game. Going into the Guwahati clash, the hosts need to find the best combination to tackle the opponents.
India are likely to be without their captain, Shubman Gill, due to his neck spasm. He has been advised a couple of days’ rest. All-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy has reportedly joined the squad. They will touch down in Guwahati on November 19. After training for two days, they will attempt to earn series parity.
The Barsapara Cricket Stadium is an uncharted territory as far as Test cricket is concerned. But given the spin impact last week, the home side is likely to engage its batters in more spin-heavy work. The second Test in Guwahati begins on November 22.
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