“Not acceptable” - Cheteshwar Pujara slams transition excuse after India’s Eden Gardens loss

Cheteshwar Pujara slammed the transition excuse after India's 30-run home loss, stating, "It's not acceptable." He insisted that the loss on the rank-turner was due to poor strategy, not talent deficiency, as the squad possesses strong first-class performers.

By Jack 18 Nov 2025 in Cricket

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Former India batter Cheteshwar Pujara said that losing Test matches at home is not acceptable for India, even if the team is in a transition phase. After the defeat in the first Test against South Africa at the Eden Gardens, India have now lost four of their last six home Tests. However, after the Eden loss, head coach Gautam Gambhir said the current team is quite young and needs more time to adapt to different challenges.

After the retirements of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Ravichandran Ashwin from Test cricket, India appear to be in a transition stage, with new players getting opportunities and new combinations being tested. But Pujara felt that this cannot be used as an excuse for losing Test matches at home.

"I don't buy this that India are losing at home because of transition. I can't digest that," Pujara said on JioStar after the Eden Test. "If you lose in England or Australia because of transition, it could be acceptable. But this team has the talent and potential. You look at the first-class record of all the players – Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill… Washy [Washington Sundar] batted at No. 3 in this game – all their records are so good. Still if you lose at home that means something is wrong.”

“If you say this loss is because of transition, it's not acceptable" – Pujara

The Eden Test finished within three days, raising questions about the pitch. Pujara also said that India would have had a better chance of winning if the match had been played on a good wicket.

"If you had played the same match on a good wicket, there were much better chances of [India] winning. How do you define Test cricket? On what kind of a wicket are your chances better of winning? On such tracks, your chances decrease and the opposition is at par with you. There's so much talent in India, even an India A side could beat South Africa. So if you say this loss is because of transition, it's not acceptable," he concluded.

India will play South Africa in Guwahati in the second Test starting November 22, with the visitors leading the two-match series 1-0.

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