Just as it's impossible to realistically expect to win a Test match on the back of scores of 185 and 157, to hope for a series victory after being bowled out for less than 200 six times in nine completed innings borders on the wildly optimistic.

India paid the ultimate price for a sequence of nightmarish batting displays that not even Jasprit Bumrah’s brilliance could compensate for.

A dejected Virat Kohli after being dismissed for six against Australia on Saturday. Pics/Getty Images

The captain for the first and the last Tests of the five-match faceoff finished with 32 wickets despite being unable to bowl in the final innings of the series. Single-handedly, he kept India in the hunt almost till the very end. India might have still been in with a shout in their attempt to defend 162 in the final Test in Sydney had Bumrah been available to bowl, a tribute to his immense skills and unflagging spirit that wasn’t backed up by his experienced batting unit.

Top-order under pressure

Admittedly, the pitches throughout the series, with the exception of the one in Melbourne, posed immense challenges magnified by the quality of the Australian attack marshalled superbly by Pat Cummins, and propelled by and late entrant Scott Boland. But several in the Indian top order — original skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant — have been on multiple tours of Australia, are highly experienced and will feel they should have given a better account of themselves.

Gautam Gambhir

Rohit had a disastrous three matches after missing the first Test, returns of 31 runs from five innings compelling him to stand down for the last game in the interests of the team. It was a terrific, selfless move on his part, though the intrigue surrounding the developments that led to that decision could so easily have been avoided. That was just one of many flash points, with whispers of breakdown of communication channels between head coach Gautam Gambhir and some of the players and rumours of a house divided — inevitable fallouts when a team is not doing well — surfacing as the series progressed.

Gambhir minced no words on Sunday, in the immediacy of the six-wicket defeat, when he addressed the repeated batting meltdowns not only in this series, but also at home against New Zealand in October-November when India were routed 3-0. “A bit [of the batting issues] could be because of the wickets, but we’ve had the same issues at home as well,” he observed.

“Everything boils down to temperament. Everything boils down to how much you want to play those tough moments, how much you want to grind in Test cricket, because Test cricket is all about playing sessions, seeing off spells. That’s the beauty of the sport.

Vital first-innings runs

“That is one issue where we need to probably look at — how can we convert those 20s, 30s or 40s into big hundreds and set the game up for our bowlers because your bowling department will always be under pressure if you can’t put those first-innings runs.”

Now that they are officially out of the race for a slot in the final of the World Test Championship, the leadership group must work out how to approach the future. India’s next Test assignment isn’t until June, when they travel to England for five matches. On the agenda before that will, among other things, perhaps be a collective call on what the future holds in Test cricket for the two batting stalwarts, Rohit and Kohli, who have fallen on hard times.