Former Indian wicket-keeper bat Saba Karim slammed Gautam Gambhir-led team management for not building a strong Test team after a 2-0 series loss against South Africa. India suffered an ignominious loss of 408 runs at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati on Wednesday.

Karim said India’s think tank should have looked to strengthen their Test team after they suffered a 3-0 whitewash against New Zealand in 2024. India hasn’t been able to tick the right boxes in the home conditions and has suffered five losses in the last 12 months.

Saba Karim said on ESPN Cricinfo, “This loss is distressing and all of us feel gutted. This is showing a mirror to the Indian team management. They have not done enough to build a strong Test side. They should have already done that after the loss to New Zealand in the home series. We tend to forget things very quickly and we don’t work on becoming a strong Test side. As a result, we have seen what has happened in these two Test matches again.”

The former Indian selector said South Africa were able to outplay India in the batting as well as the spin department. Simon Harmer was the pick of the bowlers as he scalped 17 wickets in the two-match series.

He added, “South Africa has outplayed and outclassed India not only in the spin department, but also in the batting department. 2-0 after 3-0 loss against New Zealand should hurt us deeply. We require deep introspection to wake up from this.”

India were completely outplayed by the Proteas and the hosts were not at their best. Team India will certainly need to rethink their strategy in the red-ball format when they next play Sri Lanka in August 2026.

India’s next assignment is the three-match ODI series against South Africa.