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The Indian cricket team's surprising 0-2 series loss to South Africa in the just finished red-ball series has sent shockwaves through the squad.

Earlier this week, the visiting team handed India a record defeat in terms of runs, defying expectations. It marked South Africa's initial series triumph in the subcontinent in 25 years and India's second defeat at home in just a year after a decade-plus without a home loss.

The positive trajectory gained during the past six months has largely dissipated and the prospects of multiple squad members - along with head coach Gautam Gambhir - are under scrutiny.

A Promising Start Fades Quickly

The emerging side's impressive performance in England this season, under a new captain, indicated a seamless changeover post the almost concurrent exits of stalwarts R Ashwin, Sharma, and Virat Kohli.

An easy 2-0 victory over West Indies at the start of the home season strengthened that view, until the South Africans came and inflicted a devastating defeat.

India were a tad unfortunate that leader Shubman Gill was injured very early in the first Test and did not participate again in the contest. However, that neither explains nor absolves the team of the well below standard performance in both Tests against South Africa.

Some big reputations suffered, and multiple individuals hoping for long red-ball 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 India in just over a year. In 2024, underestimated the Kiwis had secured a remarkable 3-0 triumph which essentially denied the hosts a berth in the World Test Championship (WTC) final.

The fresh failure to South Africa risks harming the team's hopes of reaching the decider of this edition also.

Previously ranked third in the WTC rankings ahead of the matches, India have dropped to fifth place. Though nine further games are yet to be played, half of these are against the Aussies. Usually, performing in familiar conditions would be a huge advantage - including against the strong Australian side. But the failures against the Kiwis and South Africa provide no basis for such assurance.

Roots of the Decline

India's weakness in the longer format has been significantly highlighted. Nevertheless, why India have struggled so much in Test matches on home soil in recent times is still bewildering.

In the 21st century, the Indian cricket team were considered unbeatable in Test cricket at home. Under sweltering weather and on tracks that helped spin and aided their squad, India faced little challenge. The odd series defeat, like in 2012-13 against England, was seen as an anomaly.

Now, India seem beatable on home turf.

Against New Zealand in 2024 and the Proteas currently, India were hoisted by their own petard. The surfaces they prepared to help their style failed miserably, as rivals capitalized on them more skillfully, surpassing India's batsmen and bowlers when it counted the most.

The Core Issue

A few experts argue that the Indian team is failing at home because domestic pitches have been changed from turners to fast tracks to train the squad to perform better abroad.

A few mention that the domestic T20 league, in which several international stars participate, has reduced the surprise and difficulty subcontinental pitches would present to them earlier.

Even though there is validity in these views, it fails to account for the reason India's performances on home soil have experienced such a sharp fall.

Various Shortcomings

The majority of ex-cricketers identify a complicated issue, not only one or two factors.

Analysts and squad members have highlighted multiple deficiencies post the team's disappointing performance to the Proteas: underestimating the opposition, lack of preparation, poor choices, arrogance, regular alterations of the playing XI, and prioritising white-ball over Test cricket.

This was evident in the showings of the squad.

Cricketers like Pant and Jaiswal, of whom great things were anticipated, were punished for their carelessness, while Sai Sudarshan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Jurel - who were hoping to secure their place in the team - came up short in technique and temperament, facing the fallout for their nonchalant approach.

Just a few - Ravindra Jadeja, Bumrah, Kuldeep, Siraj and Washington Sundar - fulfilled their skill and fame - but not sufficiently to claim wins.

Leadership Under Fire

The post-mortem targeted the entire setup - the selection panel and backroom team were also under fire, fuelled by distraught fans and vocal past stars. Under focus of the criticism was team coach Gambhir.

In his post-series press