India, Nov. 21 -- Gone are the days of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Mohammad Azharuddin and Sourav Ganguly. The Indian batters, using their feet and dancing down the track to hit boundaries or rotate the strike, look like a distant dream now. The past year has seen the hosts squandering their advantage on home soil, being whitewashed by New Zealand, and now going down against Temba Bavuma's South Africa at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The loss against the Proteas now sees India staring down the barrel, and the chance of losing another home series is just too real.

After India's 30-run loss in the Freedom Trophy opener at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata, India head coach Gautam Gambhir launched a passionate defence of the pitch, ...