India can no longer avoid tough conversations with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma after series loss

Virat Kohli's reaction after his final dismissal of the series said it all. The recently concluded series between India and Australia was widely considered one of the greatest in recent memory, and a major subplot was Kohli's inability to leave the ball outside his off stump. Kohli was dismissed eight times in the series, all in the same fashion – the ball taking his edge and flying to a fieldsman stationed behind the wicket.

It was a plan that the nation, and indeed the world, knew about, including Kohli himself, yet he seemed powerless to stop it. After Scott Boland got the edge to Steve Smith, Kohli exploded in a minor fit of rage, thumping his leg repeatedly in frustration, which was telling. He was like a child who knows they shouldn't eat candy, yet can't help but reach for the Tim Tam on the kitchen counter.

Kohli's personal battle, and his inability to win it, was a microcosm of India's series. Just as Boland didn't do anything particularly special to get Kohli out time and time again, Australia didn't do anything particularly special to defeat India and regain the Gavaskar Trophy. India entered the series with very obvious flaws – a batting lineup out of form and a bowling lineup lacking consistency after Jasprit Bumrah, and Australia exposed both with ruthless efficiency.

Kohli and India will feel like they missed a major opportunity in this series. The fact that they still came so close to retaining the Gavaskar Trophy again, despite performing so poorly as a collective, suggests Australia was not miles ahead. India prides itself on its performances against the famed 'SENA' nations – South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia. Therefore, a record of one win, six losses, and a draw against the latter two nations in the past six months should prompt some deep reflection.

First on the agenda must be figuring out what to do with Rohit Sharma and Kohli, the two pillars of Indian cricket. In the absence of their captain Rohit, the tourists started the series in Perth in dream fashion, winning the first test by 295 runs. However, reintegrating him into the team proved difficult. After Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul had a double-century opening stand in Perth, Rohit initially got it right, choosing to bat at six instead of his preferred opening position.

With some help from mother nature, India was fortunate to escape with a draw in Brisbane, and the series remained locked at 1-1, but the team selection risks taken in trying to get Rohit back into form for the fourth test ultimately cost the tourists. When the team sheet for the Boxing Day Test was released, Rohit was back opening. The in-form KL Rahul, who had made 84 in the previous test, was demoted to three, and one of the players expected to lead this test side for the next decade, Shubman Gill, was dropped altogether.

The results were disastrous for India. Rohit made a total of 12 runs at the MCG, taking his 2024 average to 24.76, before he realized the jig was up and dropped himself for the series finale in Sydney. Moving Rahul around to accommodate Rohit also cost the right-hander form, who finished the series with scores of 24, 0, 4, and 13 respectively.

Rohit has insisted that he won't retire, and while he missed the Sydney test, with India already out of the running for this year's Test Championship, it's time for the brains trust to move in a different direction. The 37-year-old has been one of the most feared batsmen of his generation, especially in the shorter formats of the game, so it was somewhat sad to see him struggling to get the ball off the square at the MCG, in what might be his final test. Rohit looked a defeated man as he trudged off the field in the second innings of the fourth test after getting out attempting an extravagant flick.

India is also getting closer to needing to have an extremely uncomfortable conversation with their best player of the last decade, Kohli. The former captain's test average has dropped below 47 after another underwhelming series, a staggering decline considering it was above 54 just five years ago. Kohli used to have 25 test centuries and just 20 half-centuries. He now has 30 centuries and 31 half-centuries. Simply put, he is struggling to go on and make the big scores he used to.

There is still hope for Kohli. His struggles aren't as bad as Rohit's, but he needs to figure out how to rewire his brain to leave the ball outside his off stump. Aside from this very obvious flaw, the rest of Kohli's game still seems to be in some sort of good order. Kohli remains in incredible physical condition, and considering he is a consummate professional, it wouldn't be a surprise if he could iron out this off-stump flaw and spark a late-career revival.

However, there is now five years of solid evidence to suggest that the peak Kohli won't be seen again. It's up to Kohli and the Indian brains trust to figure out how to get him out of this slump. Does he move his guard across his off-stump, so he can confidently leave balls in the danger zone? It's something to consider. The inconsistent performances of the three batsmen in front of him, aside from the prolific Yashasvi Jaiswal, haven't helped Kohli's plight recently. He is often being asked to face the newer ball than he would like, which is just about the worst thing possible for someone like Kohli, who has become a habitual accumulator.

Kohli initially came into the Indian test side as a number six batsman, behind the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. It's a position he hasn't occupied since 2012, but would a move back down the order be beneficial for both the team and the player? Moving Kohli to six would help him avoid facing the new ball as often, allowing those in front of him to take the shine off it, like Tendulkar and Dravid used to do. Kohli's numbers at six are solid, albeit from a small sample size. He averages 44.88 from nine innings, and has a century from the position.

The benefits of demoting Kohli are two-fold. It gives India the opportunity to give one of their next-generation players the position. Just as Kohli made the number four position his own after Tendulkar retired, India will be able to figure out who will occupy the position when Kohli retires. Shreyas Iyer or Sarfaraz Khan, anyone? Of course, this will require the next generation to be ready to take the opportunity, like Kohli was in 2013, when he made 119 and 96 in his first test batting at four against a South African attack including Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel, and Jacques Kallis.

One of the next-generation players struggling to make a breakthrough in red-ball cricket is Shubman Gill, who now has a very mediocre batting average of 35.05 from 32 tests. Gill's career trajectory is very similar to Rohit's. He has become a feared one-day player, but for some reason, he has struggled to translate this success when representing India in tests. For India to remain a force in test cricket over the next five years, Jaiswal, Gill, and Rishabh Pant need to take on the bulk of the scoring. Jaiswal has already shown a desire for long innings, but Gill and Pant need to realize that this team needs more than their flashy 30s, especially when they are batting at three and five respectively.

Gill got starts in four of his five innings in Australia, but then got out just as he looked completely set. This is a microcosm of Shubman Gill's experience. He will look absolutely brilliant at the crease, until the moment he gets out. This all also depends on Kohli, a player with an incredible amount of pride, being willing to accept the ego hit of being demoted. Usually, players of all eras find their position and remain in it until their final game. Only their retirement creates the vacancy. Tendulkar batted at four until he left. Kumar Sangakkara remained at three until he was done.

Australia had similar issues with Ricky Ponting late in his career, with the once-prolific number three batsman averaging in the 30s for three of his final four years in test cricket. Like Kohli, Ponting's test average also dropped from a high of over 50 to 51.85 when he retired. Australia tried to protect Ponting by moving him from three to four, and the former captain had some success in his final year, scoring two centuries before eventually retiring in 2012.

The tricky situation that India faces is that Kohli remains a huge cultural element in the dressing room. You can tell that when he is in the team, everyone else around him seems more confident. The kids these days call it 'aura', and Kohli has it, even when he isn't scoring runs. Watching Kohli and Rohit field side by side at the MCG was jarring in the completely different energy they brought to the team. Rohit mostly stood at first slip with his arms crossed, before squatting into his catching position as the bowler ran in. He felt more like a disappointed father. Kohli was everywhere.

He spent time fielding in the slips, strategizing with Rohit. At other times, he was frantically directing his troops, bantering with the rowdy Australian fans on the boundary. He was playing both good cop and bad cop. At one point, Kohli couldn't hide his disappointment with Jaiswal for giving his wicket away again, but was also the first person to embrace his teammate, who is 13 years his junior. Imagine what that feels like for Jaiswal, a kid who grew up watching Kohli and idolizing him. When Kohli is on song, he brings an energy and attitude to the Indian team that no one else can, and that still has very obvious value.

Late on day two of the final test against Australia, India sensed an opportunity to steal the match. With India's captain Jasprit Bumrah forced off the field – and eventually to hospital – Kohli was put in charge, like he had successfully done many times before. Being the main man again seemed to galvanize Kohli, and the Indian team. Kohli masterfully maneuvered the bowlers in Bumrah's absence, and the tourists gained an unlikely first-innings lead, thanks to a late Australian collapse. He was doing all of this while also firing off at the Australians in the crowd from first slip, goading them with sandpaper talk.

It was a typical Virat Kohli experience. Everything you love and hate about the man who has become synonymous with Indian cricket over the last 15 years, all in one frantic passage of play. Kohli's antics set the scene for what could have been a defining innings of the series, and perhaps his career, when India came out to bat later in the day. Could this be the moment he broke out of his slump? It wasn't, as he was dismissed again by Boland. Throughout his career, emotion has always brought the best out of Kohli. He is a player who thrives on the contest.

Throughout the series, Kohli's moments of confrontation, whether it be bumping into Sam Konstas or trash-talking the Australian fans, seemed to be more about firing up his own game than anything else. When he is scoring heavily, Kohli's antics inspire and invigorate his team. When he isn't scoring runs, they become a distraction. India must figure out when that distraction becomes not worth it.