India’s captain Rohit Sharma plays a shot on the third day of the second test cricket match between India and New Zealand
Streaks are meant to be broken. Records are meant to be rewritten. And surprising as it was, India's first Test series loss in 12 years was meant to happen, sooner or later.
West Indies of yore couldn't escape this reality and the Australian "invincibles" had to endure a similar fate. One series loss, therefore, shouldn't define the legacy of a team that has dominated all comers for more than a decade. India last lost a Test series at home in December 2012 when England upset their applecart 2-1.
Since then, they had gone on to register 18 consecutive series wins at home while losing just four matches. For the record, it still remains the longest series-winning streak by any Test nation at home, comfortably ahead of Australia’s 10 consecutive series wins on two separate occasions. England, Australia and South Africa had all come with high hopes only to go back wringing their hands.
That being said, there is something unsettling about the capitulation of Rohit Sharma's men against New Zealand on Saturday. The Kiwis hadn't won a series in India in 12 visits, starting with the 1955-56 season.
In Bengaluru, they managed to win their first Test of the ongoing series in India in 36 years. They were coming on the back of a 0-2 drubbing at the hands of Sri Lanka on turning pitches. And Mitchell Santner, who spelt India's doom, hadn't taken a five-wicket haul in a Test ever before.
Everything was heavily stacked against New Zealand who were also without the services of their best batter Kane Williamson. Yet, the visitors brought down the high-flying Indian team to its knees on a Pune track where Rohit and Company were supposedly better equipped to negotiate the conditions.
Whenever India have been on the backfoot, their go-to strategy has been to prepare a turner, a recourse that hasn't always worked in their favour. Pune 2017, Indore 2023 (both against Australia) and Hyderabad 2024 (against England) are examples which thoroughly exposed Indian batters' frailties against spinners. While the pitch for the second Test in Pune didn't have as many evils as Indians made it out to be, the demons in their mind consumed them.
Though there has been a lot of debate about Indian batters' waning skills against spinners, little has been done to address the problem. And by rolling out turners, India are providing a level-playing field to visiting teams, inexplicably skirting home advantage.
While that is a strategic aspect to be taken care of, India also need to look at a handful of NPAs in the team. Some stars are pushing 38 years and a couple of others 36. They clearly look jaded and out of place, and while popular sentiment will resist taking any drastic step, the powers that be should chalk out an exit plan for a seamless transition.