So, the intimidating fiery speech before Day 5's start was not enough for the fumbling team to seal a draw at least. And South Africa actually made them grovel, crawl, and shatter, with Marco Jansen flaunting the final catch of Mohammed Siraj, a catch that this team would currently dream of. India has been whitewashed, yet again, but South Africa with a huge 408-run defeat in Guwahati. Guwahati, which stunned the cricketing fraternity by altering the traditional time, witnessed the most humiliating show from its hometeam, having a nearly empty stand. Gambhir, who has been silently plotting to wipe out seniority from the team, has just Ravindra Jadeja from the same batch, who got a fighting half-century. But how long can a man go, when the other bank of the river is shattering? He mistimes an unjustified step-out that got him stumped- again something, Rishabh Pant would have easily missed. But even if he had stayed, would India have ensured a draw? KL Rahul, the once-again soft target for almost all losses, whose entire career has been a carousel, has started receiving all the trolls when the team, hoping to have a batting depth, collapsed like cards! Rahul, who was one of the only hopes against Australia, with over 500 runs in England, even though on a pata pitch, became the punching bag again. Nitish Reddy, who was fast-tracked from India, A team in Rajkot, as a replacement to Shubman Gill, seems to have entered an indefinite trauma since his idol Virat Kohli has taken retirement from Tests. Read also: "Grovel" for "bauna?" Controversy sparked after SA head coach threatens India after Day 4 dominance The IPL vs the Test cricket The biggest hypocrisy of the current management is to pressurize the seniors to play domestic cricket, sometimes threatening them with their future and even cutting them off from the contacts. While juniors, or rather the favorites, just need to breathe. Recently, when Shubman Gill's workload came in the limelight after his neck injury, the former IPL mentor, who rose to the Indian head coachmanship, Gautam Gambhir straightaway targeted the tournament, saying that players have to sacrifice IPL. Oh Really? Funny enough, Sai Sudharsan, who hardly performed in any of the tours, became the perfect choice as India's number 3. On what base? Abhimanyu Easwaran has been with the team since 2021, but is yet to earn a cap. If anyone ever can, Abhimanyu holds the perfect explanation to the modern-day definition of "benching" in a relationship. The comparison? Sudharsan has experience of 28 matches, while the Bengal batter holds 89 matches of experience, 3587 runs, with an average almost touching 80s. Nitish Reddy, the Sunrisers Hyderabad star, who has been forcefully added as a fast-bowling all-rounder, used to score once upon a time. As a bowler, his credits are probably well kept with his coach Gautam Gambhir. Reddy- 18 List A innings, 467 runs; 23 innings, 15 wickets. Fun apart, he is hardly used as a bowler. The struggle to find a head to blame-feat Gautam Gambhir The former World Cup winner, who has his contribution of 97 sloth runs, probably might struggle to find an apt excuse behind the defeat. In his early phase as the coach, the seniors, who are Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin, were the problem. They weren't scoring, according to him, and he got rid of them tactfully. Overseas, he got his most beloved word, "transition," to blame—a transition that he installed on his own will. Back in India, pitch became a target—again, something he wanted himself, after hours of nagging. However, he then complained about the incompetence of the batters in Kolkata—the troop of batters he himself chose. And it's high time to wait for him at the press conference, hoping for him to come up with a new unique excuse. Gambhir often reasoned his obsession with adding more all-rounders in the teams—at least those who bat a bit or bowl a bit- to increase the team's batting depth. By the books, India can bat 8, but the cumulative runs hardly crossed 300. Sometimes it feels that, he might play all 10 bowlers and a wicketkeeper who can bat a bit—20 runs coming from each will still do- at least the Indian team can manage wickets in time. And so for a captain? Who even cares! It's all about changing the fielders' placement that too, in the wrong place. Gambhir breaking records Since he entered the helm, India has been breaking agood number of records- be it being defeated by the highest ever margin, or being the first ever team to get whitewashed more than once in a year. Earlier, it was New Zealand, who whitewashed India by 0-3 for the first time ever—again a record-breaking feat. And now, South Africa is doing this 25 years after 2000, a feat indeed. Here, Gambhir can actually cry, saying SA is currently the strongest Test team in the world. And where is India? Below Pakistan in the 2025-27 World Test Championship Cycle. Earlier, he helped India make the record of not qualifying for the World Test Championship since its inception. And currently, India has been demoted to the fifth position, below Pakistan. To be honest, at some point, Gambhir's only achievement will always be the 97 runs he scored against Sri Lanka in 2011 World Cup, that too with MS Dhoni hitting from the other end. But people who love breaking "records," won't love boasting about such things, no matter what.