Let's put aside Nagpur's nastiness for a second. There are several other stories scrutinising it. This is about turning the spotlight on South Africa, whose slump to their lowest score since readmission, is the result of more than just a snake pit of a surface and shrewd spinners for opponents. A spaced-out schedule, questionable team selections, and a gulf in skills are the factors mainly responsible for their implosion, and should have been mitigated against before they embarked on this tour.
South Africa knew they were set for a Test tour of India many months ago, but this series would only have entered their sphere of focus when the fixtures were confirmed on July 27. Then, the attention was on the duration of the tour - 72 days - rather than the content of it.
Once the idea of ten weeks away from home was fully internalised, emphasis turned to the content. The trip would start in October with three T20s, which would serve as good preparation for next year's World T20. Five ODIs followed, and then the main course, a first four-Test series in six years. That the Tests were last was seen as a positive because most touring teams get better with time, which would mean South Africa would be as well acclimatised to conditions as they could hope for by November. It did not quite work that way.
The limited-overs matches were played on entertainment pitches which provided plenty of runs. South Africa's only experience of red-ball cricket was a placid two-day practice match in Mumbai where everyone but AB de Villiers meandered through the motions. They should have known they needed more than that as preparation, especially given the gap between the Tests.
South Africa's last completed five-day Test was in the first week of January, eleven months before the first Test in India. In between that, South Africa went to Bangladesh but only had four days of Test cricket out of a possible ten in a series where weather was the winner. That small sample only served to show them there were snags in their long-form play, but it seems they ignored them.
The Bangladesh Tests were played without de Villiers, who was on paternity leave, or any great intensity from South Africa. Only Temba Bavuma, the reserve batsman, managed a contribution of significance with a half-century in the first innings of the first test. South Africa totaled an unremarkable 248 and then conceded heavily against a spirited Bangladesh. They were 61 without loss in the second innings when rain ended play, trailing by 17 runs, and regarded that as proof that their new top two could take shape.
The reality was far removed from that. Stiaan van Zyl, the opener on trial, was promising but hardly convincing enough to be promoted permanently. The lower middle-order received a new layer of uncertainty after wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock was dropped on batting form and Dane Vilas, an outside candidate for the job, debuted. South Africa returned from Bangladesh with more questions than answers and no game time to find alternatives.
So they had to turn to the last time they played competitive Test cricket, against Sri Lanka in mid 2014 - the three home Tests against West Indies were extremely one sided - to mentally prepare for this series. That visit would have brought back good memories. Dean Elgar scored a century, Dale Steyn found reverse swing to win the first Test, and a blockathon in Colombo secured the series. That was South Africa's first series since the retirement of Graeme Smith and first under Amla, and it was successful enough to convince them their transition was taking place as planned.
Now all of that had been throw into disarray. South Africa look under-prepared and unsure. The above would explain why they may not have been ready enough. Their choice of players may explain why they have not been competitive enough.
In an attempt to follow protocol and give players a proper chance to prove themselves, South Africa stuck with the men they promoted in Bangladesh. Van Zyl kept his spot at the top, Dane Vilas kept his behind the stumps, and Simon Harmer remained the first-choice holding spinner. Of those, only Harmer is doing the job better now than he was then.
Van Zyl appears completely out of his depth, inexplicable for the player who led the domestic first-class run charts two summers ago. Vilas has struggled behind and in front of the stumps and South Africa have been left wondering if they should have turned to more experienced players for a tour of this magnitude and left the blooding for later. Stephen Cook could have been an option for the opener's spot, Thami Tsolekile for the keeper's role, and Morne van Wyk could have done both jobs, opening a space for another player lower down the order.
These issues would not be so glaring if South Africa's most experienced batsmen were doing what is expected of them, but Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis, de Villiers and JP Duminy are not. De Villiers and Duminy, to a lesser extent, have at least shown signs of form but du Plessis is more present when he is providing advice to Amla and the bowlers on the field than he is with bat.
Amla himself is preoccupied. He is captaining in fast-forward - he has to because the game has been moving so quickly - but he is batting that way too. His rush to get runs is not working and his footwork has suffered as a result.
The only player who has evoked some memory of Galle is Elgar. He has shown staying power through the struggle, but then something slips. If he is the class of player he is suspected to be, he will push through that ceiling soon. But for South Africa, soon needs to be very soon.
Elgar and Amla carry their last real hope of squaring the series. If they fall early on the third morning, India will be able to see straight through. Even if they survive a little bit, the ask may still become too much. South Africa not only have to score their highest total of the series, but the only one over 300. On a crumbling pitch, perhaps even the South Africa of old could not do it. But few thought they could do what they have done before - like draw in Adelaide, win in Perth, beat the clock in Port Elizabeth and stage a coup in Galle - and they will have to remember that now.