Gambhir's balancing act with a team in transition

Nearly two years into Gautam Gambhir's tenure, Indian cricket presents an interesting contrast. In white-ball cricket, the results have been emphatic. India have won the Asia Cup, the Champions Trophy and the T20 World Cup under his watch, cementing their status as the dominant force in limited-overs cricket. In Tests, however, the picture has been considerably more complicated.

After beginning with a 2-0 sweep of Bangladesh at home, India endured a 3-0 whitewash against New Zealand, suffered a 1-3 series defeat in Australia, fought their way to a 2-2 draw in England, beat West Indies 2-0 at home and then lost 2-0 to South Africa. Somewhere in the middle of that period came the retirements of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and R Ashwin, forcing the side into its most significant red-ball reset in over a decade.

The Afghanistan fixture - India's first since their loss to South Africa - in itself carries no World Test Championship points. Yet it arrives with India already chasing ground in a cycle they hope will end with a return to the WTC final after missing out in the previous edition. More importantly, it arrives at a time when India are trying to answer a difficult question: can a team still learning on the job remain good enough to challenge for the biggest prize in Test cricket?

Gambhir's answer is unequivocal. "The actual transition happened after England. It's been only nine Test matches," Gambhir said. "And we were brilliant in England. We won against West Indies. You have two Test matches against South Africa, it hurts. But that is what it's going to be with transition. The consistency will miss because these are young boys. The majority of these boys have played less than 30 Test matches. Most of the guys have played less than 30 Test matches, which is still not a lot of experience.

"So for me, I don't look at excuses. I don't see that because we haven't got the full-strength team. I think we've got enough talent to turn it around. I'm very hopeful that we will give ourselves the best chance to win the World Test Championship."

While much of the outside conversation has centred on results, the management appears to be judging the team through a different lens. Their argument is that the transition is younger than it appears. The retirements of big names altered the shape of the Test side. Shubman Gill inherited the captaincy in England, a number of younger players were thrust into larger roles and India suddenly found themselves trying to replace not just runs and wickets but also hundreds of Tests worth of experience.

The challenge, however, is that World Test Championship campaigns don't wait for rebuilding projects. The current cycle is already a year old and India find themselves sixth on the table, below Bangladesh. Yet Gambhir doesn't view the standings as a cause for concern. "Very optimistic and we are always optimistic," he said about India's chances of making the WTC final. "Till you have the opportunity to qualify for the World Test Championship final, you are always optimistic.

"We know the kind of quality we have and the kind of talent we have. I don't think there is any reason not to believe that we cannot win the World Test Championship. That is what not only me but everyone sitting in the dressing room believes. Yes, we can have one odd bad series here and there. But we know the kind of talent and how much hunger we have in the dressing room."

The management's belief is that India's next successful Test side cannot be built through constant changes. Players need time. Young cricketers need to be trusted through failures. Continuity, rather than reaction, is viewed as the quickest route to long-term stability. The risk, of course, is that patience can be difficult to sustain when results fluctuate.

India's recent record demonstrates as much. Since the Bangladesh series, victories have not come as frequently as they once did. Yet Gambhir's argument is that judging the transition solely through wins and losses ignores the realities of where the team currently stands. That also explains why he was unwilling to treat the Afghanistan Test as anything less than significant.

"Every Test match is important because we are going through a transition," Gambhir said. "There are a lot of young players in that dressing room and they should value every Test match. Five-six years ago, there was no World Test Championship. Even then Test match cricket was taken as important. And it is still taken as important. Very few people play Test cricket and it is a great honour when you represent Indian cricket in Test cricket. So I believe every Test match is as important as (playing against) Sri Lanka, Australia and New Zealand."

The balancing act between development and results perhaps explains some of the selection decisions that have accompanied India's transition. One of the major talking points ahead of the Afghanistan Test has been the competition for the No. 3 position. Devdutt Padikkal has produced runs consistently in domestic cricket and arrives after another productive IPL campaign. Yet, Gambhir made it clear that the management remains committed to backing Sai Sudharsan despite a modest start to his Test career.

"Honestly, he hasn't got a fair chance," Gambhir said. "He has only played a handful of Test matches. He started his Test career in England, which we all know is not the easiest place. He has had a phenomenal run in IPL as well and we have to give him a fair chance. I still believe that he hasn't got a fair chance.

"You can only pick 11, unfortunately. Sometimes you just have to wait for your opportunity. I have always believed that guys who we are going to play, we will give them a fair run. Again, Sai is not in bad form either. He has got about 700 runs in IPL. If judging players by only four or five Test matches is good enough, then I feel that we will never be able to build something.

"So hopefully he [Padikkal] will get his time. Whenever his time comes, we will give him a fair run as well. It is not about giving someone five Test matches and someone else one Test match. If we give someone a fair run, we will give the other guy whenever he gets the opportunity a fair run as well."

Gambhir's argument is that India's transition remains younger than many perceive. The WTC table, however, operates on a different timeline. India's challenge now is not merely to build a new Test side after the departures of Kohli, Pujara Rohit and Ashwin, but to do so while remaining in contention for a place in the final.