Why Team India Must Fix Its Home Test Strategy — Urgently
Team India’s home Test dominance is under threat. Explore what’s going wrong with India’s Test strategy and what must change to restore supremacy.
INSIGHTS
Gaurav Upadhyay
11/29/20255 min read
I’ve been thinking a lot about India’s recent home Test defeats, and honestly, it has been hard to wrap my head around how quickly the old sense of certainty disappeared. Not very long ago, especially during the Dhoni and Kohli years, the idea of India losing a home Test series felt almost absurd. Teams arrived knowing they would struggle to compete, let alone dream of outplaying India in their own conditions. Yet here we are, staring at a 0-3 loss to New Zealand and now a 0-2 defeat to South Africa, which included a 408-run loss in Guwahati, the heaviest home Test defeat ever by runs. The fact that not a single Indian batter (considering Jadeja as an Allrounder) managed a half-century in the series adds a little sting, and perhaps tells us something deeper is going on. This isn’t just a patch of poor form. It feels like a structural issue in India’s red-ball ecosystem that has been quietly building for a while and has finally reached breaking point.
The more one looks at these series, the more obvious it becomes that the foundations of India’s red-ball system have weakened. Batters are struggling to last even a couple of sessions; bowlers who once dominated at home suddenly look predictable; and the team, as a whole, seems unprepared for the long grind of Test cricket. A part of me keeps wondering whether too much emphasis on white-ball cricket, along with a congested calendar and shifting priorities, has diluted the skills and habits that red-ball cricket demands. It is tempting to blame individual players, but the problem feels larger than that. The rhythm needed for multi-day cricket, the technique sharpened through long innings, the temperament built through first-class battles, and the match awareness that only red-ball experience gives-all of this seems to be fading.
A reset therefore feels overdue. And not a cosmetic reset, but a thoughtful one that strengthens the pipeline, reshapes planning, and rebuilds India’s identity in the longest format. One of the first steps is increasing the volume and quality of India A red-ball cricket. Young players cannot be expected to walk into Test cricket without first learning how to fight through long spells, tricky conditions, and varied opposition attacks. Proper A-team tours, with meaningful fixtures in places like Australia, England,New Zealand and South Africa (SENA countries), can build that missing resilience. Players learn a great deal when they are pushed out of their comfort zone, and red-ball exposure overseas has historically shaped some of India’s finest Test cricketers.
Linked to this is another issue that doesn’t get enough attention is the lower levels of Indian cricket. A lot of young players focus heavily on short formats, which is understandable given the opportunities, but it leaves gaps in their defensive technique, patience, and shot selection under pressure. More red-ball opportunities at that level can create a healthier progression system. If the domestic setup resonates with longer-format discipline, players will naturally carry that into the national fold.
The planning of the Future Tours Programme(FTP) also needs a rethink. Much of India’s calendar in recent years has leaned toward white-ball commitments, often leaving Test series squeezed into windows that are too tight for proper preparation. A smarter FTP would prioritise quality Test series, ensure enough recovery gaps, and give players time to switch formats mentally. When a team is thrown from constant T20s into a Test series without proper build-up, the results rarely favour them. India needs an FTP that respects the demands of Test cricket rather than treating it as an obligation.
Another aspect I feel strongly about is avoiding meaningless “shadow” A-team tours, which sometimes happen more for optics than for genuine development. Sending half-prepared or hastily assembled squads for the sake of appearances doesn’t help anyone. If India is serious about nurturing red-ball players, each A-team tour must have a clear purpose and must feature players who can genuinely benefit from the experience.
There is also a larger structural reform that would help i.e. revisiting the domestic tournaments. A merged Irani Cup and Duleep Trophy, structured as a high-intensity four-team event, could revive interest and strengthen the competitive stakes. Right now, these tournaments lack the weight they once carried. Consolidating them could create a sharper, more prestigious red-ball platform where the best players compete consistently at a high level.
Finally, the selection process needs to become more role-based rather than reputation-based. India has a tendency to pick players on past glory or limited-overs success, assuming those skills will automatically translate into the Test format. But that isn’t how red-ball cricket works. It demands a different mindset and different strengths. Someone who plays fearless cricket in T20s may struggle to bat three hours on a deteriorating pitch. The team management must identify specialists who can anchor, grind, rotate the strike, absorb pressure, or exploit niche conditions. Role clarity can reshape how India approaches Test cricket and avoid the recurring confusion we’ve seen in the last few series.
When I imagine the possible future, I see two contrasting paths. One is where India keeps patching holes without acknowledging the real problems, eventually losing more ground in red-ball cricket. The other is a more optimistic path, where the board and selectors embrace this moment of failure as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rebuild. Picture a young batter who has played two full seasons of tough red-ball cricket, toured with India A, learnt to bat against spin in Sri Lanka and seam in England, and then earns a call-up. That player is far more likely to rise in the Test arena than someone who has only excelled in domestic white-ball leagues. The difference is not talent but preparation.
And perhaps this is why these losses, painful as they are, should not be dismissed as a temporary slump. They mark a turning point, a reminder that Test cricket cannot be sustained on autopilot. It needs investment, attention, and thoughtful nurturing. India still has the talent to dominate Test cricket for another decade, but only if the system realigns.
In the end, I want to believe that this moment of crisis can become the spark for renewal. India’s cricketing authorities now have a chance to set the system right, to rebuild confidence, to develop specialists again, and to return to the kind of Test cricket that once made home conditions feel like a fortress. Whether they take that chance will decide how history remembers this phase. I hope they do, because the essence of Indian cricket, at least for many of us, still lies in the red ball, the long spell, the hard-earned century, and the slow unfolding of a match across five days. Losing that would be far worse than losing a series.
Acknowledgment
The author is thankful to known sports journalist Chandresh Narayanan, whose thoughtful discussion on his YouTube channel first sparked the core idea for this piece. His insights offered a useful starting point for reflecting on India’s red-ball challenges. The interpretation, and analysis presented here, however, are entirely the author’s own.
References
1- The Indian Express. “Home Test Series Whitewash: How India’s Fortress Crumbled with 0-3 Loss to New Zealand.”https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/cricket/stats-rohit-sharma-india-whitewash-0-3-new-zealand-home-history-9651088/
2-Times of India. “India Face Their Third Home Test Series Whitewash: A Look at the List.”
3- India Today. “India vs South Africa: Guwahati Test Records and Stats After India’s Heavy Defeat.”
4-India Today. “No Indian Batter Scores a Fifty in the Entire Series: A Rare Home Test Low.”