s always, it was up to Virat Kohli's facial muscles to sum up the story. When the cameras searched for him, they were buried in his palms as Jasprit Bumrah circled around a Kane Williamson skier and grassed it. Having defiantly gone through the evening telling his "bhai log" that a New Zealand collapse was coming, the Indian captain now looked hollow-eyed, coming to the sobering reality of the inevitable.
Up in the viewing area of India's dressing room sat Bharat Arun the bowling coach, arms crossed and mirroring Kohli's expressionless face. His bowlers had produced another lion-hearted display in the afternoon and made New Zealand sweat to get to 139 even if the forthcoming eight-wicket victory margin of victory may have belied it.
It was on the morning of the reserve day that India failed to give themselves a chance to keep one hand on the mace. It was always going to be difficult in the first hour against a relentless attack. Given their position at the start of the day, Kohli and Co. had little to gain but everything to lose from that hour and needed desperately to come out unscathed. The incentive was that Southampton's sun was promising the first real plum batting conditions (in relative terms) of this Test match that otherwise belonged in fast-bowling heaven. Instead, India lost Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara within the hour with Ajinkya Rahane following suit on the other side of the break.
That they were five down so quickly can be accepted; you need really high skill and a bit of luck to survive the kind of pressure both bowling sides exerted through the game. How and when India lost their three batting rocks though will rankle them. Kohli was set up once again by Jamieson, this time an inversion of his first-innings dismissal. After playing for the nip-backer, he pushed at a ball he had been leaving well in the first innings. Pujara half-committed to a defensive shot while playing the angle. Rahane's was most excruciating, tickling an innocuous ball outside leg stump from Trent Boult to BJ Watling. If any of the three had batted an extra hour, New Zealand may not have had the time to complete the victory.
The batting core had done better in the first innings in tougher conditions but faltered the second time when the stakes and expectations were perhaps even higher. Kohli wasn't angry in his debrief, in fact, he was almost a statesman of sorts but right in the end, his weariness came through. "We are collectively trying to put enough runs on the board as a batting unit, and as I said, the mindset has to be to score runs and find ways to score runs," he said.
"You can't be too worried about getting out because you're bringing the bowler into the game completely and not moving the game forward, as I mentioned. If you don't put their bowlers under pressure then they have the fitness and the consistency to bowl long spells and keep bowling all day in the same areas and trouble you, and the more momentum you give them, then invariably they get the breakthroughs they want."
Knowing Kohli, this loss would hurt, as any in a knockout game at an ICC event should. White-ball defeats at The Oval and Manchester were tough but this was different given his affinity for Test cricket. This is his side, carefully constructed over a period of six years, that came close, had a sniff but couldn't grab the official validation of being the best.
But after the hurt and the mourning, there will come a time for introspection and regrouping for the long haul. Not one of India's batsmen had gotten to 50 in this Test for the first time since the 2018 Lord's Test, incidentally another game they had fielded two spinners after the opening day was washed out. Here though, they were justified by the need for batting depth. Yet, going from 149 for 3 to 217 all-out in the first innings and 109 for 5 this morning are just those big little moments that Kohli has always wanted his side to be seizing but ones that were let slip by the batting, the traditional strength of the side.
The spotlight will also land on the distinguished middle-order troika of Kohli, Pujara and Rahane, who batted wonderfully in patches but without any of them leaving their desired imprint on the outcome of the game. It is not to suggest a need for immediate change but succession plans will have to begin in the coming cycles. The subject was raised with Kohli and the Indian captain was startlingly honest, not reining himself in at the possibility of revealing an unpalatable truth.
"Yeah, look, we will continue to reassess, continue to have conversations around what other things are required to strengthen our side and not follow or fall prey to a certain pattern. I think evolving with the game and improving yourself with the game is a very, very important thing, and when you've been a top side for a few years in a row, you don't want to suddenly drop your standards, and we need to keep up with the demands of the game and understand exactly where we need to rectify the areas that need to be rectified as a team and move in the right direction.
"We will certainly take those decisions and have those conversations in the near future. It's not something that we will wait for a year or so because as I said, you have to plan ahead. If you see our white ball team now, as well, we've got great depth and guys are ready and guys are confident about their skills. So I think the same thing has to be done with Test cricket, as well. You have to reassess and plan and understand what dynamics work for the team and how we can be fearless and bring in the right people who have the right mindset to perform."
Kohli lives in a world where the weight of the present is the only thing that really matters, and for all his success of this team, losses, especially in ICC finals will spark some soul-searching. But on many levels, this Test championship final loss will also only confirm the existing status quo: are one-off finals true indicators of the best Test side?
They may not have ICC-stamped evidence of their top billing but would like to believe they are still arguably the most complete side in Test cricket, capable of competing around the world with a bowling attack to kill for. Would it be realistic to think they can make a fist for a series win in England next month? Yes.
Despite the defeat, India remain a very good Test side, just not good enough on the day.
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