India's dismal performance reaches new low as attitudes and defensive techniques are severely exposed

When a team bats like India have in the past five innings of this series, displaying a lack of confidence in their own abilities, where does one even start? The defeats in the first two Tests were already disappointing, but the complete collapse in the third match, failing to chase a modest 147 for victory, has pushed the team to a level of humiliation not seen in Indian cricket for nearly a century. While New Zealand performed admirably, India's performance was not just subpar, it was downright dismal.

There seemed to be no method to their batting, no guts and steel and application and determination, with the honourable exception of Rishabh Pant. To be bowled out in less than 30 overs for 121 with two and a half days left is a low Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir will find impossible to live down.

There has been a huge premium on intent and taking the game forward and on avoiding boring draws, but what wouldn’t the Indian fan, faithful and uncomplaining in a welcome break from the past but perhaps far too compromising and undemanding of accountability, give for a dull, dreary stalemate? At the very least, that would mean a meaningful batting effort which, the second innings in the first Test in Bengaluru excepted, has been conspicuous by its absence.

The Wankhede Stadium surface asked questions, but not ones that didn’t not have any answers at all. Ajaz Patel, who backed up ten wickets in an innings three years back with 11 wickets for the game this time around, was a constant threat with his discipline and his control and the simplicity of his craft, of course, but he wasn’t unplayable. Where were the famed soft hands? Where was surety of foot movement, in advancing down the track or using the depth of the crease? Where was the old habit of blunting turn, of manipulating the field, of forcing Tom Latham to scatter his close-in catchers, of releasing the pressure by turning the strike over? Where was commonsense and logic?

Not in the middle, for sure. The rot was triggered by the captain’s adventurism and the infection spread quickly through the ranks. Rohit has been a stirring leader for a long time now, but he must now introspect and wonder if his no-holds-barred approach at the top of the batting order is what he and his squad requires, or deserves.

His greatest moment as Test opener came on the tour of England in 2021 when he went against his natural grain, concentrated on leaving balls outside off, batting time and forcing the bowlers to bowl against to his strengths, all in conditions he isn’t too accustomed to. In this series, he has been in an unseemly hurry, charging and trying to clatter the bowlers as if in a T20 game, not in the more stately world of Test cricket.

If Rohit has been disappointing, Virat Kohli has been even more so. Between them, the two elder statesmen were expected to lead the way but both were woefully below par. Kohli has looked a pale shadow of his imperious self of the past; his defensive technique is now in tatters and he is – or should be – clearly feeling the aftereffects of a series of underwhelming stints at the batting crease. Cricket can be very fulfilling, but it can also be extremely scathing and unforgiving. Kohli has appeared a man distracted, which has manifested in different and bizarre modes of dismissals, including the first-innings run out in Mumbai in the final over of day one when prudence suggested just playing the day out.

The genesis of India’s batting meltdowns has stemmed from nominally the two best batters in the team not setting the right example. The rest have had their moments at various times, but not for long enough or consistently enough to make a difference. All through the series, the fans have turned up in large numbers and supported the team even in the darkest, most debilitating hours. They deserve better; they must demand more without seeking recourse to unacceptable methods of behaviour because nothing can be more frustrating than seeing a lack of fight or stomach for battle.

Only once before have India lost all Tests in a home series – 0-2 against South Africa in early 2000. To be swept 3-0 by a New Zealand side that wiped the floor in Sri Lanka not long back should hurt. Badly. India have only 19 days before their next assignment, the first of five Tests against Australia in Perth. The turnaround time is limited but attitudes and mindsets must change, just as the conditions will. Otherwise, Australia too will punish them. And with far lesser grace than Latham’s commendable Kiwis.