Team India’s dominance in Test cricket seems to be fading and the numbers prove it. Once unbeatable at home, India has now suffered two back-to-back whitewashes. First, New Zealand shocked everyone by beating India 3-0 in 2025, which ended India’s 12-year-long unbeaten run at home. Then, South Africa came and won 2-0 in a two-match series last year.
These two big defeats hid two good results – a hard-fought 2-2 draw in a five-match series in England and a comfortable 2-0 win against West Indies at home.
Former India captain Ajinkya Rahane, who recently retired from all forms of cricket, is worried about the future of Test cricket. Speaking on a podcast, he said that a Test team cannot be built only with young players. According to him, every team needs 7-8 senior, experienced players and only 2-3 youngsters. Right now, he feels, the Indian team is full of new players with almost no seniors left. He hinted that senior players should be respected by the team management.
Ajinkya Rahane said he is genuinely scared for the future of Test cricket. He said everyone wants the format to survive and teams like India, England, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are still keeping it alive. But he feels that in the last 2-3 years, teams have not respected their senior players, and in India, all the senior players leaving at the same time has become a big problem. He was referring to the retirements of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin and Cheteshwar Pujara in quick succession.
He also added that modern Test cricket is missing grit. Without naming any team and saying this is happening in all countries, he said players today don’t have the character to fight through tough periods.
Ajnkya Rahane shared that he has not played Test cricket for the last two years and has been watching from home as India lost even home matches. He believes Test cricket needs mental toughness, competitive spirit and the ability to survive entire difficult sessions, which is rarely seen nowadays.
Meanwhile, head coach Gautam Gambhir is facing criticism for India’s poor red-ball form. This is in sharp contrast to India’s white-ball dominance, as India has won the last two ICC trophies – the Champions Trophy in 2025 and the T20 World Cup earlier this year – along with the Asia Cup in 2025.
Ajinkya Rahane certainly makes sense, what do you say?
