We want to achieve what no other Indian team has achieved in South Africa.
This was Rohit Sharma's statement prior to the start of the first Test in Centurion as India looked to end their 31-year long wait to clinch a historic Test series victory in the 'Rainbow Nation'.
Cut to three days later and it was all done and dusted for Team India as the South African pace attack comprising Kagiso Rabada, Nandre Burger and Marco Jansen blew away the much vaunted Indian batting line-up.
The wait has got longer for a Test series win in SA and the disappointment will linger for skipper Rohit with the defeat adding salt to his wounds after the World Cup final defeat about 40 days ago.
The defeat throws up several questions as to where India got themselves undone and dug themselves into this mess.
POOR PLANNING AND SCHEDULING
As much as it's convenient to brush this aside saying the ICC's FTP is prepared well in advance, the BCCI and the Indian team management has to probably look into where their priorities lie in terms of international assignments.
Whether it's playing a three-match ODI series prior to a hugely significant Test series when the 2023 ODI World Cup concluded more than a month ago and the next ODI WC is a good four years away.
As much as the white-ball formats grab all the eyeballs for TV viewership, Test cricket is the pinnacle of the sport and India were touring a place that was dubbed as the 'Final Frontier' for them by broadcasters.
With such significance involved, it would have been prudent to consider the scheduling of the series in the best interests of the team.
ILL-EQUIPPED TECHNIQUE
With the exception of KL Rahul in the first innings and Virat Kohli in the second innings, all top order Indian batsmen were completely at sea in the challenging South African conditions with the menacing pace trio tormenting them to no end.
Indian batsmen play an immense amount of white-ball cricket and that has a great deal of impact on how they turn up when they play Test cricket and especially away from home in places like South Africa.
Consider this: India played 45 white-ball internationals in the calendar year of 2023 and have played seven Tests this year which included four at home against Australia, two against West Indies in the Caribbean and now one Test against South Africa.
There is one more to go in the first week of January.
The tendency to play strokes naturally and the difficulty in curbing their instincts has been the bane of Indian batsmen.
Be it the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was caught behind fishing outside off stump looking to drive through covers.
Or Shubman Gill who was out trying to chase a ball going down leg or a Shreyas Iyer unable to read the ball that was slicing into him.
INDIAN BOWLERS OFF-COLOUR
Whether it was the absence of the sensational Mohammad Shami or the lack of penetration from Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna, India were found wanting in an area they have vastly improved as a unit in recent years.
Although Jasprit Bumrah, with four wickets, and Mohammad Siraj with two wickets did put the hosts under pressure at various stages of the South African first innings, it was not enough to stop them from going past 400.
The inexperience of Krishna and Thakur's lack of consistent line and length let the likes of Dean Elgar, David Bedingham and Jansen get away and help South Africa post a big total.
