India lost the second Test to South Africa in Guwahati by a record 408 runs to lose the series 0-2.
This was the second whitewash for India at home after a 0-3 series loss to New Zealand in 2024. India has not had the best time in Tests since Gautam Gambhir took over as head coach from Rahul Dravid in July 2024.
Indian cricket reached previously unheard-of heights thanks to Shastri and then-captain Virat Kohli, making the Test team one of the greatest travelers in cricket history. India only lost two Test matches under Kohli, in 2017 at Pune and in 2021 at Chennai, so winning at home was a given.
The margin was the only question. Given that the team he and Rahul Dravid assembled went from winning every series between 2012 and 2024 to now playing and suffering a clean whitewash, it makes sense that Shastri would be saddened.
"You tell me. What happened in Guwahati—from 100/1, you skip to 130/7—this team is not that bad either. They have this much talent at least. The players should take some responsibility too. You have played spin since you started playing cricket," Shastri said in a teaser podcast released by Prabhat Khabar.
When asked by the interviewer if he is protecting head coach Gautam Gambhir, Shastri refused to do so.
"I’m not protecting [him]. 100 percent (he is responsible too). When am I saying anything otherwise? Agar yeh mere saath hota, main pehla responsibility leta (Had this happened with me, I would have been the first one to take responsibility. But then, I wouldn’t have spared the players either in the team meeting),” Shastri added.
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Shastri is India’s most successful head coach, with a win percentage of 65 percent across formats during his tenure from 2017 to 2021. Under Shastri, India won its first Test series in Australia, and it replicated the feat three years later. India was the top-ranked Test team for 42 months, from 2016 to 2021, and reached the final of the inaugural World Test Championship in 2021.
Then, under Rahul Dravid, India started with a Test series loss to South Africa but then went on a rampage, beating Australia and England at home in 2023 and 2024. India even made the second WTC final.
But under Gambhir, India has won only two Test series, against Bangladesh and the West Indies, while losing to New Zealand, Australia, and now South Africa. They managed a hard-fought series draw in England as well.