Selling nightmares in the name of dreams: India prepare for tryst with sharpened nails and polished coffins after Melbourne heartbreak 

India is no stranger to heartaches, in fact, logic dictates that they should be immune to it by now, considering its frequency. Instead, it has reached a stage where each one hurts more than the last, and it's purely because of the 'what could have been' factor.

As long as there is hope, there is room for sorrow. It was the sheer hope at every peak India had over the course of the five-day war that ended up being the fuel for the eventual heartbreak.

Jasprit Bumrah's 50-over colossal marathon spell spread across two innings, Yashasvi Jaiswal's resolve, Nitish Reddy announcing himself - all of these may have ended in vain, but it made Australia uncomfortable to a great extent, an achievement India would have been proud of a decade back.

But, now the expectations are far higher. Pushing Australia to the ropes is not enough, you have to do enough to steer them over and out, which is precisely what India failed to do, despite being bestowed with multiple opportunities.

The roller coaster saw a final crescent when India imploded in the final session through a fatal combination of self-infliction and the opposition's brilliance. India's recent exploits in Melbourne have been fondly remembered, this one will too, perhaps even more, but not in a way India would have wished.

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Dreaming of Gabba 2021, Accepting Sydney 2021, Ending with Adelaide 2014

It is not often that India realistically considers a far-fetched fourth-innings target in Australia. But, inspired by their past exploits, Team India were instilled with the belief to set out and replicate those heroics. Despite being sent out to chase far more than they would have liked to, there was a sense of brimming optimism.

But India stumbled in the initial burst itself, and lacked what they had in Gabba three years ago - a rock-solid foundation. On that occasion, the top three of Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, and Cheteshwar Pujara played their part to perfection to allow Pant come into the picture later.

This time around, India were not blessed with the same luxury. A double strike from Pat Cummins midway through the session and a brain fade from Virat Kohli meant that Australia removed an Indian win out of the equation.

This led to an unsaid air of settlement for a repeat of Sydney 2021 at the lunch break. If a win's gone from the grasp, settle for a draw - Fair enough, considering it was the next best possible thing on offer.

A buoyant image began to form during the tea break, and rightly so because it was a realistic proposition at the time. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant had played out an entire season to near perfection, all India needed was more of the same.

With seven wickets in hand, and little over two hours to play for, renditions of box cricket would have sufficed for a 1-1, and a knockout series finale in Sydney.

But shades of Sydney 2021 began morphing into the haunting portrait of Adelaide 2014, where India collapsed dramatically after selling dreams. From 204-2 at tea, India were bowled out for 315 all out in the matter of 17 overs.

A similar story unfolded in Melbourne as well after India lost their way from 121/3 to 155 all out. All it took was one delivery from a part-time spinner to push the first domino, and the rest fell at the slightest touch.

A downgrade from aspiration to settlement to acceptance is not a strange sight in life or cricket, but to go through all three in a single day is a taxing experience that only the most stoic individual can survive without feeling a thing.

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Pant and Jaiswal's dismissals are the wrong blips to focus on in an array of dizzying lights

The immediate reaction to the Melbourne defeat has unsurprisingly been an over-reaction, that too on the wrong aspects. The majority of the focus has been on Pant's shot selection, and the third umpire's questionable decision regarding Yashasvi Jaiswal in the fall-out, when there are bigger fishes to fry.

The questionable team selection has gone under the radar because of Nitish Reddy and Washington Sundar's batting heroics. But, at the end of the day playing two spinners, having six bowling options, did not make sense at the expense of a specialist batter in Shubman Gill.

At this point, one can only assume what the case would have been had Gill played, because India certainly could have used another specialist batter. India were caught between two minds as they needed to strengthen both their bowling and batting, but made the wrong choice in the end, with hindsight suggesting the same.

What's the point of having 'additional' bowling options, if the fifth and sixth bowling options are hardly in the mix, and the spearhead has to bowl more than 50 overs?

The dodgy team selection meant that India were crippled even before a ball was bowled. The disputable calls made regarding the top-order made the situation even worse, as India needed a rescue act from their lower middle-order yet again, but luckily it is something they are overtly familiar with for quite a while now.

The question marks regarding Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli's form, the supporting bowling act, and Nitish Reddy's role in the side will all be there. It only shows almost nothing has changed after two Tests.

At the end of the fourth Test, India fortunately do not have any new problems, but unfortunately, their existing problems have flared up quite considerably.

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India did not need to be faultless to win the game, but unfortunately made one fault too many

India lost the grip on the game across several points in the game, but which of them cost the most? This will be a question that will be asked around all corners of the cricketing circle, only because there are so many moments to choose from, each right in their own sense.

Was it when India allowed Australia to post 474 after reducing them to 299-6 in the first innings. Was it the Jaiswal run-out? Was it poor fielding and the dropped catches? Was it the Labuschagne-Cummins, and Lyon-Boland stands, or was it Rishabh Pant's wicket in the final session?

Each of the aforementioned moments had a lasting impact on the game, almost akin to a snowball effect. The problems kept mounting up, and frustratingly, just when India seemed to resolve an issue, the next one took over. Amid all this, India were always left playing catch up.

The annoyance aspect increases by knowing that even if India could have avoided any one of the stumbles, they would have had a positive outcome from the game.

Despite all the efforts to conduct a shake-up and a revamp in more ways than one, the performance ended up being an extension of the one at The Gabba. A bit better, but well short of the mark.