India, Nov. 17 -- Chasing 124 shouldn't end in humiliation. Yet there was India at Eden Gardens, bowled for 93 against South Africa, with Gautam Gambhir standing by a pitch he called "exactly what we wanted". That collapse wasn't just another bad day. It confirmed a dangerous trend: India's once-impregnable home record has imploded under their new head coach.

Since Gambhir took charge in July 2024, India have played eight Test matches at home and have won precisely four. They've also lost four. That equals the total number of home defeats they suffered across an entire decade between March 2013 and October 2024. What was once an aberration has crystallized into a crisis.

The ledger tells two starkly different stories. From the Banglades...