When something happens over and over again, it becomes a scar — and it takes that much more effort to get rid of it. I remember speaking to PV Sindhu after she had lost her seventh straight final, and she was despondent. “Will I never win a final?” she had asked. It wasn’t that Sindhu was a bad player; reaching a Super Series final was a huge achievement. And yet, she wasn’t able to get over the line. Eventually she did, and that opened the gates.
For the Indian men’s team, it is becoming a mental issue on turning tracks at home. The scars from last year’s New Zealand series haven’t healed, and now there is a new wound inflicted by South Africa. Clearly, it is a mental issue — the apprehension of what could be, the fear of failure. That’s what India have to conquer in Guwahati to bring their World Test Championship (WTC) campaign back on track.
This is not an easy thing to do. It isn’t about skill or a technical flaw that can be ironed out in the nets. It is a deep-rooted scar, and it will take a great deal of work from the Indian management to erase it. To do so, Gautam Gambhir will have to take the lead role. As white-ball coach, Gautam has a stellar record: winning the Champions Trophy, the Asia Cup, the T20 series against Australia in Australia, not to mention victories against South Africa and England. His record there is brilliant.
However, it isn’t the same in red-ball cricket: losses against New Zealand and Australia, a drawn series against England, and wins only against the West Indies and Bangladesh. Now, heading to Guwahati 0–1 down, Gautam himself will agree this isn’t a record to be proud of. And one can attribute this to the mental scarring mentioned earlier. His players are scarred and scared, and that’s what he has to address.
Gautam — whether we agree with him or not — will go by his beliefs. He will back his instincts and trust that they will come good. That’s who he is and has always been. The question is: do his players feel the same way? Do they have the mental resilience to step up and move on from defeat? Do they have the self-belief to turn things around and prove they can win at home on tailor-made pitches? Or is it perhaps a better option to play on good decks that have yielded results in the past?
Gautam has always been defined by fight. He may have failed on occasions, but he never shied away from a challenge. He would grit it out, come what may. That’s not what we are seeing from this Indian side in home conditions. We aren’t seeing a Manchester-like fight at home, and that is baffling. One batter needed to put his hand up at Eden Gardens and be counted. The platform was laid out for a hero. No one stepped up, and the result was a shock loss.
Whether Gautam can instil fight — whether he can make his team mentally strong enough in Guwahati — could ultimately determine the outcome of the series.
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