IMHO these sorts of excuses are not helpful, sure fans can speculate anything as far as they find justification because they need hope but for a professional player this shouldn't be a big concern, if it is then they are cheating themselves and everyone else.
They can try Mukesh but i think Krishna deserves another chance, yes he failed royally but sometimes it does happen and i feel he could be the next Ishant Sharma (the last leg of his career was amazing) saying this because BGT tour is on the line.
The batting lineup is kinda new so consider this as a transition period, during this timeline failure comes and at times it does look ugly but you have to give a long rope to youngsters even if they fail.
But India really needs someone to replace for the Pujara spot, right? And with the pool of talents available in India, it won't be that hard.
Yeah, I think Dravid also will back him because he said that he didn't expect much from the debutant and team totally failed whether its batting and bowling except few individual performances.
SA, has been well-prepared to make this happen and there is no wonder why Centurion is their fort.