India’s first home Test against the Proteas opened on a disappointing note with a 30-run defeat inside three days in Kolkata, and head coach Gautam Gambhir used the post-match press conference to highlight what he believed the young batting group lacked most, which he believes is the ability to handle pressure in tough sessions of Test cricket. India, missing captain Shubman Gill due to a neck injury, folded for 93 while chasing 124.
The innings never recovered after Marco Jansen’s early burst and Simon Harmer’s second-innings spell, which sealed an eight-wicket match haul for the off-spinner. Washington Sundar (31) and Axar Patel (26) offered resistance, but South Africa’s disciplined attack held firm to go 1-0 up in the two-Test series. Gambhir, assessing the defeat, stressed that India’s batting order was low on experience and still learning how to absorb long periods of pressure.“If you look from top to bottom, if you talk about the batting unit, there is not much experience,” he said. He added that Test cricket demands more than technical skill: “More than the skill, in Test cricket there is not only a need for skill, there is also a need for mental toughness… if you are not able to absorb pressure… things start getting easier once you see off that first 10-15 minutes.” He pointed out that the players who chose to defend patiently were the ones who managed runs in this match. “The people who defended well, whether it’s KL Rahul, Temba Bavuma, or Washington Sundar, everyone made runs,” Gambhir said, noting that temperament was central to constructing partnerships on such surfaces. India’s collapse at key moments, he argued, reflected a larger need for the group to grow together rather than searching for individual faults. “You lose as a team, and you win as a team,” he said. “It’s not like we lose a Test match because of a batsman… We lose because of 11 players… When we win, we win together. When we lose, we lose together.”
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India ended last season with a mixed run marked by a home series defeat and inconsistency across formats, and the Kolkata loss continued that unsettled trend. With the second Test in Guwahati approaching, Gambhir kept the message simple: the team must tighten its temperament and learn to build through difficult spells. “We still need to keep getting better if we want to play on these kind of wickets,” he said.Incidentally, this defeat also means that India registered this fef
