India's unexpected 0-2 loss to South Africa in the just finished Test series has sent shockwaves through the squad.
Earlier this week, South Africa gave India their heaviest defeat in terms of runs, contrary to predictions. It was the Proteas' initial series triumph in India in a quarter-century and India's another home failure in just one year after a 12-year unbeaten run.
The momentum built over the previous half-year has almost disappeared and the careers of several players - as well as head mentor the coach - now hang in the balance.
Initial Hope Fades Quickly
The new-look squad's commendable display in England this summer, under a different skipper, suggested a seamless changeover after the almost concurrent retirements of veterans R Ashwin, Rohit Sharma, and Kohli.
An easy 2-0 victory over the Windies at the beginning of the domestic season strengthened that view, until the Proteas arrived to deliver a devastating defeat.
The home side were a tad unfortunate that captain Gill suffered an injury quickly in the initial match and did not participate again in the series. However, that neither explains nor absolves the team of the highly disappointing display in each match against the opposition.
Some big reputations suffered, and several players hoping for lengthy Test careers were revealed to be not yet good enough - in ability or temperament - for the Test cricket.
Concerning History
It was the second whitewash on home soil experienced by the Indian team in just a year. In 2024, little-fancied the Kiwis had secured a surprising 3-0 win which essentially denied India a place in the World Test Championship (WTC) final.
The fresh failure to South Africa threatens to derail the team's hopes of making the showpiece of this edition too.
After being third in the WTC rankings ahead of the matches, the side have been relegated to fifth place. Even though nine additional matches are remaining, a majority are against the Aussies. Typically, performing in familiar conditions would be a huge advantage - even against the powerful Australians. Yet the debacles against New Zealand and the Proteas leave little scope for such assurance.
Roots of the Decline
The national team's weakness in Test cricket has been badly exposed. That said, the reason the team have struggled so much in Tests on home soil lately is remains puzzling.
From the year 2000 onwards, India were considered unbeatable in Test cricket at home. Under sweltering weather and on pitches that helped spin and benefited their players, India faced little challenge. The occasional loss, such as in the 2012-13 season against the English, was viewed as an aberration.
Today, the team look to be beatable at home.
Against the Kiwis in 2024 and South Africa currently, the home side were hoisted by their own petard. The pitches they developed to suit their strengths backfired spectacularly, as opponents used them more effectively, outplaying India's batsmen and bowlers when it was most crucial.
The Core Issue
Some suggest that the Indian team is failing in home conditions because local wickets have been modified from turners to fast tracks to prepare players to perform better in foreign conditions.
Some point out that the IPL, in which many overseas players take part, has reduced the unfamiliarity and challenge subcontinental pitches would challenge them with before.
While there is a degree of accuracy in these views, it fails to account for the reason the side's results at home have experienced such a dramatic drop.
Various Shortcomings
Most former players point to a complicated issue, not limited to a couple of reasons.
Analysts and squad members have highlighted several failings following the team's disappointing performance to the Proteas: not respecting the foe, inadequate readiness, poor choices, arrogance, frequent changes of the team lineup, and favoring white-ball over the longer format.
This was evident in the displays of the team.
Cricketers such as Pant and Jaiswal, of whom great things were anticipated, were punished for their lack of application, while Sudarshan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Jurel - who were hoping to secure their place in the team - came up short in technique and temperament, suffering the consequences for their casual attitude.
A small number - Ravindra Jadeja, Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj and Sundar - did justice to their ability and standing - but inadequately to win matches.
Leadership Under Fire
The post-mortem targeted the entire setup - the selection panel and coaching staff were also under fire, spurred on by disappointed supporters and vocal past stars. At the centre of the scrutiny was team coach Gautam Gambhir.
In his post-series press