Indian captain M.S. Dhoni says he cannot confirm reports VVS Laxman is set to call time on his glittering career after the batsman and many of his fellow veterans failed to fire in a crushing loss to Australia in Perth.
India surrendered the Border-Gavaskar Trophy through an embarrassing innings-and-37-run loss to the Australians at the WACA Ground on Sunday, giving the hosts an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series.
Of more concern to Dhoni, who himself is suspended for the fourth Test in Adelaide after being fined for slow over rates, has been the dismal performance from his highly-decorated batting unit, who fell for tallies of 161 and 171 in what appears the end of a glittering era for this Indian side.
Laxman managed 31 and a duck in both his innings respectively, while Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid have had series to forget and Sachin Tendulkar struggled in Perth, despite producing some good innings in the first two Tests.
"I would make it simple," said Dhoni after the match.
"Australia is playing very good cricket at this point of time, and we are not playing to the kind of potential we have."
"Same was the case in England," he added, referring to his side's 4-0 series loss last year. "We have not put runs on the board."
"There's only been once (in the England and Australia Tests) when we have made over 350 runs."
"That's something we need to be careful about. You want to give bowlers those amount of runs, so they could look to get the opposition out."
"I don't think bowling is a real worry (but) batsmen on the other hand are consistently failing."
Reports from India on Sunday morning indicated selectors were prepared to drop Laxman, with the 37-year-old apparently on the brink of retiring.
That may change now that Dhoni has been suspended for the next match, although according to the captain, he's heard no such thing.
"As of now there is nothing that I know of officially," he said.
However, Dhoni acknowledged the time had come to look at how the senior players in his side were eventually phased out in order for a new era to begin.
"It's important to have right mixture," he said.
"You can't have all the seniors missing at the same time. We will have to think fully and decide."
"The experience these guys have, once they share this experience with youngsters, the job of youngsters become easy."
"I have not sat and thought over it," he added, referring to this phasing out process.
"Everybody needs to be a part of it, players and BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) at the same time. It would be a process, not an event. We would have to see what's in the best interest of the country."
"It's about making the right decisions. People went after Virat (Kohli) to be dropped, and he batted really well (in Perth)."
"You have to give that span of time to that particular batsman to keep going on. That's how great cricketers are made."
Dhoni said that ultimately he was the main culprit to blame for this series loss as he backed the embattled Duncan Fletcher to continue as coach.
"It's not like he has become the coach and we have lost two series and he's to be blamed for all the defeats," Dhoni said.
"Because, ultimately, it's the players who go out and perform."
"Coaches can motivate and help on technical areas but it's up to 11 players to go out and perform."