Familiar struggles, same story

January 2018: India lost a hard-fought Test series in South Africa 1-2 before hammering the hosts 5-1 in one-dayers and 2-1 in T20Is.

February 2020: India have been blanked 0-3 in the ODIs and have lost the first of the two-Test series after routing New Zealand 5-0 in T20Is.

In the first instance, the Indian team management was quick to point out that it was an issue of acclimatising to the South African conditions during Tests and once they got familiar with the pitches, there was no stopping them. If one were to apply the same logic, things should have gotten better for India in New Zealand. Instead, they have only worsened and that has brought them to the brink of their first series defeat since the onset of World Test Championship.

India had been in New Zealand for more than a month before the Test series began, five of their players who featured in the Wellington Test had been playing in the shadow tour for India A and six others in the playing XI have visited the country more than once. Yet their performance in the first Test, especially that of the batsmen, left a lot to be desired. The familiar failings came to the fore as the ball swung, seamed and bounced.

India's combined total of two innings was 356, just eight more than New Zealand's first innings total during their crushing 10-wicket loss. The Indian bowlers did let the Kiwi batsmen off the hook after reducing them to 225/7 in the first innings, allowing the last three stands to add a whopping 123 runs but that's a topic for another debate. For the moment, let's focus on superstar Indian batsmen.

Captain Kohli was right in saying that one defeat wasn't the end of the world, but the manner in which he defended his team's abject surrender made little sense. He blamed the "outside" forces for making it appear as a "massive loss." No one needs to try too hard to prove that point. The numbers scream out so. If a 10-wicket loss in just over three days isn't massive then what else can be?

It's evident this team is ultra-sensitive to criticism, even if it's justified. In the past, Kohli has even gone to the extent of asking the journalists to bat for one over from a quality pace bowler, thus indirectly doubting their credibility to question the team's failures. His tone post the Wellington drubbing was no different but a few misdirected irate remarks aren't going to mask the reality.

For all their struggles abroad, New Zealand are a formidable side in their backyard. They have a great understanding of their conditions and exploit them to the hilt. That said one expects at least a semblance of fight from the No. 1 side in the world. It's a little disconcerting to see the same batsmen, who stack up individual hundreds and even double hundreds for fun at home, struggle to post 200. All of them put together that is.

For a team that aspires to be one of the greatest sides ever, it needs to win in all conditions. However, barring a win Down Under against an under-strength Australia in 2018-19, India haven't even managed to draw a series since the start of 2014, let alone win, in the SENA countries (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia).

Some of the current batsmen, who draw parallels with their illustrious predecessors, in fact have a lot to prove before they are put on the same pedestal. The likes of Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have played enough in the SENA countries to draw comparisons and only the Indian skipper measures up to the standards of Tendulkars and Dravids.

While the openers and Hanuma Vihari obviously aren't as experienced, the remaining three - Kohli, Pujara and Rahane - will have to take the responsibility of scoring and if they fail, most of the blame as well.

There is also a small matter of selection. Given K L Rahul's form in the limited-over leg of the series, notwithstanding the fact that he had been dropped from the Test squad not too long ago, his exclusion for the longer format defied logic. Having played 36 Tests already, he didn't have to go back to first-class cricket to prove his red-ball credentials.

For the skeptics, here is a piece of trivia. Rohit Sharma, the white ball monster, forced his way into Tests based on his performances in the shorter versions.