How does the world’s No 1 Test team on a long, unbeaten streak bounce back from a huge loss inflicted in an unexpected manner at home?

If the Indian team’s example is anything to go by, the best way is to switch off from the cricket and go back to nature. After the 333-run to Australia in the first Test at Pune, Virat Kohli and Co went on a trek to Tamhini Ghats near Pune, in an attempt to ‘keep moving ahead’.

However, Virat Kohli and the Indian team have a mountain of a task ahead of them after losing the first Test of the four-match series. India have overturned a deficit of one match to win a four-Test series only once before, more than 40 years back.

Only once in their 85-year history have India come back and won a series of four or more matches after losing the opening Test. That solitary rebound success came back in 1973 when Farokh Engineer’s team turned a 0-1 deficit into a 2-1 victory in the five-Test series against England on home soil.

The only four-or-more Test series India have won after being a match down was back in 1973, when Farokh Engineer lead the team to come back from 0-1 to a 2-1 win over England, according to cricket.com.au. That team, boasting of the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, MAK Pataudi, Gundappa Viswanath and the famous Indian spin quartet, went on win the second and third Tests, before drawing the last two. If India are to win this series, the team will have to break this 44-year record.

Famous scenes from the 2001 Test series against Australia. (Arko Datta/AFP)

Then again, the storied India vs Australia rivalry is not without its fair share of inspiring comebacks. The team just has to look back at 2001, when India were 0-1 down in a Test series against Australia at home, were then made to follow on and how India’s Test map changed after that.

Closer to their time, Virat Kohli and Co can look back to the series in Sri Lanka and how they turned things around after that fateful Galle Test. They won the 3-match series 2-1 after that and began the 19-match run that ended in Pune.

With the next match in Bangalore scheduled to begin from March 4, the Indian team will be looking at the past to overcome the roadblock and forge ahead. After all, the mark of the best players in sport lies in how well they can bounce back from losses and carry on.