So many all-rounders, so much chaos: Kumble, Prasad unleash on Gautam Gambhir’s ‘absolute brain-fade obsession’

The defeat to South Africa was India’s second home whitewash in 12 months, both occurring under Gautam Gambhir’s tenure.

Former cricketers Anil Kumble and Venkatesh Prasad slammed India head coach Gautam Gambhir after the team’s humiliating 0-2 whitewash by South Africa on Wednesday, criticising the muddled approach, lack of stability, and over-reliance on all-rounders. This was India’s second home whitewash in 12 months, both occurring under Gambhir’s tenure.

Anil Kumble, Venkatesh Prasad had their say on India's 2-0 series defeat

Kumble didn’t hold back, slamming the chaos in India’s Test line-up and the relentless chopping and changing since Gambhir took charge.

"Test match cricket requires a different mindset, you can't really have so many all rounders, so much chopping and changing, so many changes in the batting order, in the team itself. Every second game you have a new player coming in, couple of guys get dropped," Kumble told JioHostar after South Africa inflicted a 408-run defeat on India in the second Test in Guwahati.

In the past 12 months, India have been in transition following the retirements of Virat Kohli, R Ashwin, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Rohit Sharma, leaving a young squad to fill big shoes. Kumble urged the team management and selectors to hold a proper discussion on the way forward, stressing the need for a strong core of 11 players rather than including those still in the developmental stage.

"I think India needs to sit down and think and ponder. You can't forget these results, you need to have a discussion around how you see Indian Test cricket go forward. Stalwarts have retired in the last 6-8 months and when that happens you need to have a vision and have a conversation as to what the team has to do," Kumble said.

"You can't get players in a side and hope they will develop and grow in the team. It can't happen, you can have 1 or 2 players like that in the line up if you have 8-9 strong players who have the experience. But you can't have 1-2 experienced batters and bowlers and the rest of them are trying to find their feet."

Former fast bowler Prasad slammed India on social media, taking aim at the team’s “obsession” with overloading the XI with all-rounders.

"Really disappointed by how India is going about in Test cricket. The all-rounder obsession is absolute brain-fade especially when you don't bowl them. Rank Poor tactics, poor skills, poor body language and an unprecedented 2 series white wash at home. Hope this does not get washed off with Test matches 9 months away and this negative approach changes," Prasad wrote on X.

India will now shift their focus back to white-ball cricket with the T20 World Cup coming up in February, and are not playing a Test match until August next year, when they tour Sri Lanka for a two-match series. It will be followed by another overseas campaign, against New Zealand in October–November 2026 for a two-Test series. India will next play at home against Australia, in a five-match Border-Gavaskar Test series in January–February 2027.