Legendary spinner Harbhajan Singh didn’t mince his words after India suffered their second home Test series whitewash in last 12 months. South Africa defeated India 2-0 in the two-Test match series of the Freedom Trophy 2025. He advised that if Indian cricket wants to safeguard its “future generations,” the team management needs to rethink the kind of home pitches it prepares.
India's 2011 World Cup winning star, Harbhajan, reckons that India must move away from the spin-heavy tracks that helped them dominate for over a decade, a streak that ended when New Zealand handed India a Test series whitewash last year.
Harbhajan Singh on Indian pitches
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Harbhajan said that India’s current Test preparation standards have slipped because players aren’t getting enough matches that last the full five days. He believes that consistently playing on pitches that produce two- or three-day finishes has hurt India’s batting depth and affected the form of players like Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, contributing to their decline in the format.
"We do not know how to play matches for five days. We have got so used to playing so many matches on wickets where matches last for two to three days... Nowadays, it has reduced averages of our batters like Virat Kohli, Pujara, Rahane to 35-40 from 50... Our old greats were greats because they knew how to play five days of Test match cricket."
Harbhajan urges Indian cricket to look ahead
Harbhajan urged Indian cricket to look ahead instead of relying on what worked in the past, insisting that preparing better wickets is more important than chasing short-term results.
"For the betterment of Indian cricket, I think they should forget what has happened in the last 10 to 12 years... start playing on better wickets to save the future generation of Indian cricket."
He added that Test cricket demands qualities such as patience and discipline, traits he believes have faded among Indian players due to the nature of recent surfaces.
"The kind of temperament needed to play Test cricket requires effort, hard work, discipline, and I feel that for many years this has been missing."
According to him, true Test surfaces produce fair contests and force teams to battle across all five days, ultimately revealing the stronger side.
"But what happens on a good wicket? A good wicket makes the game last five days... This lottery type situation, earlier New Zealand got lucky, now South Africa got lucky..."
Harbhajan Singh on India's Guwahati defeat
Harbhajan also reflected on India’s performance in Guwahati, where the pitch was more balanced and the match lasted into the final day but India's batting collapsed in both innings.
"South Africa won the toss on this pitch and made 489... And then in the second innings, Team India collapsed for 140... So this is not just the fault of the pitch. I feel the biggest fault is your temperament."
India vs South Africa 2nd Test
The Proteas dominated the match with standout performances from Senuran Muthusamy, who scored his maiden Test century, and Marco Jansen, who smashed 93 and claimed 6/48 in the first innings. Simon Harmer then sealed India’s fate with a match-winning 6/37 in the second innings. Despite a fighting fifty from Ravindra Jadeja and Sai Sudarshan’s determined 139-ball knock, India fell far short in their chase of 549.
South Africa wrapped up a massive 408-run victory. Harmer took home the Player of the Series award for his 17 wickets across the two Tests, while Jansen was named Player of the Match for his all-round performance.