Time running out for struggling India stalwarts Kohli, Rohit

NEW DELHI : The inglorious end of India's proud home record has left the cricket-mad nation grappling with the reality it has long been dreading - that ageing stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma might be approaching the end of the road.

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

Both quit T20 internationals after winning the World Cup in West Indies earlier this year and their diminishing returns in test cricket is a huge concern ahead of India's trip to Australia for a bumper five-test series.

India will be hoping to avert a rare whitewash in the third test against New Zealand starting on Friday with fans hoping skipper Rohit and batting mainstay Kohli will produce some runs before they fly off to Australia.

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

Kohli, widely considered one of the batting greats of the modern game, has managed just two centuries in the last five years and only two fifties in his last 12 innings in the longest format.

The right-hander's average has 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 - has been conspicuous.

"Virat Kohli's test record in the last two-three years has not been great against spin," his former India team mate Dinesh Karthik told .

Kohli looked crestfallen after being bowled by a juicy full toss from Santner in the first