Hardik Pandya gets engaged in tense dressing-room exchange with Gautam Gambhir after second T20I defeat

India’s second T20I loss to South Africa has done two things at once: it has swung the series back into a tight contest, and it has dragged coach Gautam Gambhir into the spotlight even in the shortest format of the game.
After the defeat, a clip from inside the Indian dressing room began doing the rounds on social media, showing Gambhir in an animated conversation with star all-rounder Hardik Pandya, the vice-captain of the Indian T20I team. There is no clear audio in the circulating visuals, so the content of the exchange can’t be verified - but the body language has been enough to fuel a full-blown online reading of “what went wrong.”
Why the spotlight is on Gambhir after the defeat
The game itself offered plenty of obvious pressure points. India never truly found a batting rhythm and fell away from the chase pretty early in the game. Pandya’s 20 off 23 balls came at a stage when the team expected him to accelerate while chasing a huge target of 215 runs. The release shots did not arrive, the knock never kicked into higher gear, and the innings looked stuck in second gear longer than India could afford.
That made for a sharp contrast with the opener at Cuttack, where Pandya’s unbeaten 59 off 28 flipped the match and earned him the Player of the Match award. Two games, two completely different versions of the same player - and, by extension, two different displays of India’s batting.
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So why does Gautam Gambhir land on the line now? Because coaching scrutiny is not only about results. It is about whether the team looks like it has a repeatable plan. When India’s tempo collapses in a T20, the question comes fast: Why is the team still backing Shubman Gill in the format? Why did Axar Patel bat at the crucial number three in a big chase? Is the team moving in the right direction with a World Cup coming up in a couple of months? and whether the middle-order is being asked to do a job that doesn’t suit their natural games. A high-profile loss, followed immediately by a visibly intense dressing-room exchange, only amplifies that microscope.
With the South Africa series now tied at 1-1, India would be looking to get their act together quickly and make a strong comeback. The next match in the bilateral series will be played in Dharamsala. The Gautam Gambhir-led India management will be keen to find the missing pieces of the puzzle that would help keep their preparations for the T20 World Cup 2026 on track.