Sunil Gavaskar: India needs to understand the difference between a Test all-rounder and a limited-overs all-rounder

Not for nothing are the South Africans the holders of the World Test Championship trophy. The way they have prepared for subcontinent tours is worth emulating. They went to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka earlier in the year and took a team that included spinners who could exploit the slow pitches of these parts. When they performed well and earned valuable points, the old-power media complained that they had not beaten top teams to reach the WTC final. This was rich, given that those very teams have failed to beat these so-called lesser opponents on several tours there. All that they have done is moan and whinge about the pitches and conditions every time they have lost.

Even for this Test match at the Eden Gardens, one of Ben Stokes’s has-beens has got vocal about the pitch simply because 15 wickets fell on day two. I have been a has-been longer than this has-been, but I can say with conviction that the pitch was tough, not impossible to bat on. Temba Bavuma showed that with his short back-lift and soft hands, keeping his bat speed just slow enough so that even if the ball took the edge, it would not carry to the close-in fielder. He also showed admirable patience and great temperament, even when the ball went past the outside edge. In essence, it was proper Test match batting and not what modern batters do the moment they find it is not a flat pitch and the ball is doing something off it. They think that going for the big shots will get them out of trouble. If anything, it gets them back in the pavilion. There are far too many who will tell them that there will be a delivery with their wicket on it, so better to go down trying to play big shots than fight it out with technique and temperament. They forget that red-ball behaviour differs from white-ball cricket, and that playing proper cricketing shots is the better option. They also overlook that Test cricket gives you the time to leave deliveries, unlike limited-overs cricket, where every ball counts.

By the way, when India toured Australia last year, 17 wickets fell on day one in Perth. In Adelaide, 11 fell on the first day and 14 on the second.

In Sydney, 11 wickets fell on day one and 15 on day two. Did the has-been have any complaints or caustic comments about those pitches? Absolutely not. Ten wickets on day two at Leeds. In Birmingham, eight wickets fell on the second, third and fourth days.

At The Oval, 15 wickets fell on the second day, but of course, unsurprisingly, not a word of criticism about the pitches in Australia and England. Lots of wickets fall in a day in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, but nary a word of sarcasm. That is left for India and Indian pitches. So predictable this haranguing about Indian pitches and finding fault with everything about Indian cricket.

Anyway, the defeat to South Africa will hopefully open the eyes of those who matter to look at the heavy scorers in domestic cricket, who are used to playing on pitches where the ball spins and keeps low. The international players are so busy playing overseas that they do not have practice playing on domestic pitches, and so are found wanting.

Test batting demands patience and, more importantly, the willingness to leave your ego in the changing room. It does not matter if you get beaten and rapped on the leg guards. You do not have to try and tonk the ball out of the ground to show who is the boss. The only boss is the one who stays humble and accepts that at this level, the bowler will beat you, and so waits a bit till the scoreable ball comes along.

India also needs to understand the difference between a Test all-rounder and a limited-overs all-rounder. A genuine Test all-rounder is someone who could make the eleven solely as a batter or as a bowler. A player who only offers a few overs or a few runs is not what Test cricket demands. A proper batter who can chip in with the ball is fine, just as a regular bowler who can hold up an end with the bat is valuable. But selecting a player who would not make the side purely as a batter or as a bowler might work in the short term, yet it does not add real value.

After this South Africa series, India will not play a home Test for over a year. All the more reason that there is clarity about the difference between Tests and limited-overs games, and about the requirements for the different formats.

If not, India could miss the World Test Championship final again, just as they did this June.

Published on Nov 18, 2025