NEW DELHI: The inglorious end to India’s proud home record has left the cricket-mad nation facing the long-feared reality – that aging Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma could be nearing the end of the road.

Through three World Cup titles, two World Test Championship (WTC) finals and a 12-year home winning streak, Kohli and Sharma, often together, have been integral to every major Indian success in the last 17 years .

Both opted out of T20 international competition after winning the World Cup in West Indies earlier this year and their declining performance in Test cricket is a major concern ahead of India’s trip to Australia for a five-Test series.

India will be hoping to avoid a rare whitewash in the third Test against New Zealand starting on Friday, with fans hoping that skipper Rohit and batting mainstay Kohli produce a few runs before flying to Australia.

Opener Rohit, a stylish and free-scoring batsman at his peak who helped India to their first two series triumphs in Australia in 2018-19 and 2020-21, has six single-figure returns and just one fifty in his last eight test rounds.

Kohli, widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of the modern game, has managed just two centuries in the last five years and just two fifties in his last 12 innings in the longest format.

The right-hander’s average dropped to 48.31 and his struggles against left-arm spin – he fell to New Zealand’s Mitchell Santner in both innings of the second Test – were on display.

“Virat Kohli’s Test record in the last two-three years has not been great against spin,” his former India teammate Dinesh Karthik told .

Kohli looked dejected after being hit by a juicy delivery from Santner in Pune’s first innings, as if he remembered how in his prime he would have sent the delivery racing to the boundary.

“It’s obviously a recurring pattern where the (left-arm) spinners have bothered him and I think he will go and figure out what he needs to do to come out stronger,” Karthik said.

“He’s a man looking for answers.”

However, it wasn’t just Rohit and Kohli that fell short as India’s usually strong and deep batting was a major disappointment in the two Tests against New Zealand.

Played out for a dismal 46 in Bengaluru and a 146 in Pune, their failure to put decent scores on the board in the first innings meant a comeback in either Test was a tall order.

India have a slim lead over Australia in the WTC standings and another defeat in Mumbai would mean they would need to win four of their five Test matches Down Under to reach their third consecutive final.

The next two months could also determine whether Kohli, who turns 36 next week, and Rohit, who is a year older, can extend their Test careers.