The England-India Test series is finally over, and it was another disappointing overseas result for the visitors, a team that was expected to topple the hosts returning with a very poor 1-4 loss.
The biggest problems for India were their batting, their poor selections and some uninspiring captaincy from Virat Kohli at various stages of the series.
Indian batting heavily relied on their experienced batsmen ahead of this series. Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Murali Vijay and Virat Kohli were expected to draw from their experience of the 2014 Test series to guide the newcomers. Even though Kohli exceeded all expectations by becoming the highest run-getter from either side, he did not receive the support he needed to pull his team out of the woods.
Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane took a long time to get adjusted to the conditions, and their performances even after that were patchy. Pujara scored that brilliant hundred at Southampton but failed in both the innings at the Oval. Ajinkya Rahane made some useful contributions throughout without converting any of his starts to a big one.
The opening combination was tinkered with a lot in the first three Tests. Murali Vijay, who had a very poor start to the series, was discarded after the first two Tests. Shikhar Dhawan got few starts but his technical frailties did not allow him to convert those into a big one.
KL Rahul also got to some decent starts but could not make use of those opportunities until the last innings of the series, when he showed what he is capable of. His catching, though, was a huge asset for India in this series, as the Indian slip cordon has been very unreliable over the past year or so.
(Stu Forster/Getty Images)
The Indian bowlers, though, soldiered on tirelessly throughout the series, keeping the visitors in the game despite the constant batting failures. They were not helped by some unimaginative leadership by their captain, though. Kohli, for all the runs he scored in the series, made some poor tactical errors which cost India dearly.
India had England on the mat more than once in the series only to allow their tail to rescue them. India had hosts 7/87 in the first Test, 6/86 in the fourth and 7/182 in the fifth Test. In all these scenarios England managed to forge some crucial late-order partnerships to get themselves out of the woods.
Virat Kohli at times looked short of answers and his field placements involved mostly following rather than sticking to the basics. The team selection throughout the series was poor. India at the end of the tour leave the English shores uncertain of their combination which they were very sure of at the start of the series.
The series overall captured all the issues India have been ignoring over the past few years. The series overall was a disappointing one and the team management have lots to answer for this debacle. The team progress over the years has been hindered by some rigid selections from Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri. Their reluctance to try out young players have cost them dearly in all three formats of the game.
The next stop for India will be the home Test series against West Indies. This will be the only opportunity for India to try and sort out the combination for the Australian tour later this year.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
That's the issue isn't it. India will always do well at home and this is true for all cricket nations at the moment. None of the teams are capable of winning outside their comfort zone. The case in point highlighted by Australia's loss to South Africa earlier this year. Australia hadn't lost to them in SA since readmission. But when India says that they want to be that team who can win everywhere, they need to show they can. They have good bowling resources but poor captaincy and selections have held them back. This English team and the South African team which we faced earlier this year were both not the best. If India had showed little bit of resolve and fight, they could have won both the series. If something is not done with the attitude and the batting before Australian series, we can expect another repeat of England down under.
Kopa Shamsu
Guest
no they were not medium pacers,i was referring to that series.At that series(i saw full series) i do not remember them bowling fast except johnson,harris was already struggling with his injuries. At that series i do not remember harris bowling many 137+,he was mostly operating 130-135.
JimmyB
Guest
Medium pacers? Never heard Johnson and Harris described as that before and Siddle used to be fairly rapid back in the day too.
kopa shamsu
Guest
i believe given their strength(at least based on what people said earlier,India was bringing their best team when england was at their weakest,that too at a summer series) india should have won 4-1 to give any hope that they will be competitive in australia. Now i do not think so. If you see Ind vs Aus last ODI series in Ind,you would see Aus has their moment at every match bar 1 ODI & 1 T20(both were severely rain curtailed) where Ind team had tough time handling australia's frontline fast bowlers(which was a B grade) ,they mainly accelerated against 3,4,5th bowler who were inexperienced. Given they are going to face starc-hazz-cummins+lyon(string they barely faced before together ) in aus i do not really think aus need steve smith to defeat Ind. If you compare this bowling attack with previous one (johnson-siddle-harris+others) they were mostly medium pacers,this attack is far more deadly.Ind has always struggled against fast bowlers who doesn't spray it too much.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
It's easy to be critical about India failing to wrap up the "tail", but one thing England have been doing is picking "allrounders" in their tail. Effectively, only the last two could count as genuine tail-enders, and in his earlier days Broad was considered decent with the bat too, though that's dropped off in recent years. So you can't just assume because you have them 6 or 7 down that the rest will just crumble. England have needed that too, their top-order and middle-order have both been crumbling like a house of cards on way too many occasions for their liking. England also had much of the luck really go their way. That second-test win was more down to England just lucking into the perfect conditions. They got to bowl to India when it was insanely tough to bat, then bowled them out right at the end of the day and got to come out the next day and bat in nice sunshine. Outside of that one test, much of the rest of the tests just came down to England holding up just slightly better in the big moments than India did. Still, they will go back and whitewash the West Indies in India and all will be good again...
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
Jennings has the full backing of the coach and the captain for some reason. He is surely on that plane to Sri Lanka. The SL spinners will be extremely excited with the prospect of bowling to him. Root struggled in the 2016 India tour and SL will be tougher as they have been rolling over sides who are not India in recent times.
JimmyB
Guest
Of course they’ll be tough to beat, Australia always are, especially in Australia however whilst they’re by no means perfect, I think that this is an Indian team that will be competitive in Australia. Btw, I thought India’s catching was generally excellent, whilst England’s was nothing short of amateurish. Jennings doesn’t appear to me to be up to it as an international opening batsman but on top of that he’s a liability in the field.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
I think unless India get rid of their dead weights, they are not going to win in Australia as well. Pujara and Rahane need to step up as the senior members of the team, not only with the bat but also on the field. KL Rahul needs to score more regularly rather than just once or twice in a series. So plenty of problems for India. Australia have their issues as well but they are playing at home which makes a huge difference. The catching needs to improve. The Indian bowlers are now creating chances and except for the Trent Bridge test, the catching has been poor. Virat needs to be more decisive in the field and needs to make sure he does not let the games drift when the tail comes in to bat. The Australian tail will be hard to dismiss as well as Pat Cummins and Mitch Starc are both very good batters. So lots of things for India to work on if they have to win in Australia. The Australian team will be back to their full bowling strength against India and will be difficult team to beat at home, even with out Smith.
JimmyB
Guest
I understand why you would be disappointed but India were very close to winning this series. They bowled as well as England, they caught much better than England and collapsed as frequently as England. Lower order runs were the crucial factor between England winning and losing the series. England are very lucky to have quite so many quality allrounders but what I wouldn’t give for a consistently quality spinner and an outright menacing quick bowler...not to mention a stable, solid top order. Hey Look, every team has its problems.
JimmyB
Guest
Pakistan have always been very competitive in England due in part to their seamers, India much less so. However, this is easily the best bunch of seamers that I’ve seen from India and as we all know it was a very competitive and close series regardless of the score line. I forget which commentator put it best when he said that the difference between the two sides wasn’t that England were necessarily better at batting, they simply had more of it. On top of that, there were some very curious selectorial decisions from India and some pretty average captaincy from Kohli that aided England in the end. I don’t think it’s all doom and gloom for India though, I can see them being just as competitive against Australia as they were against England and if things go their way then they could possibly win over here.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
Ravi Shastri is just an "Yes Man" to Kohli. The reason Kumble was chucked out was because he was a strong personality as well. Virat Kohli did not want anyone to challenge his authority in the Team. Anil Kumble, when he was captain of India was lauded for his strong leadership. Kumble would have been a great coach and he would have made a huge difference overall in the mindset of the players. Kumble did not push them hard, he just had a personality clash with Kohli. Kohli's control over the team was challenged and he did not like it. That's the reason I was very disappointed how the entire episode was handled. Ravi Shastri isn't a coach, he never was. He is just a manager and I am sure he does not make any tactical decisions ahead of the game. It is truly Kohli's team and Shastri is just there to make up numbers.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
India had great chance of winning the series 3-2, but they squandered their opportunities by some daft selections and poor on field captaincy. The batting obviously was the major culprit. None of the batters except for Kohli could score runs consistently.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
I think the criticism is valid. India repeated the same mistakes they did in South Africa. Losing is one thing but not learning from your mistakes is not acceptable.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
Yes they were. England had just drawn a series against a Pakistan team who had lost to Sri Lanka in UAE. England did not look settled, compared to that India came in with a settled squad.
kopa shamsu
Guest
not to mention,this time pitches in England were surprisingly non-england like.
HelterSkelter
Roar Rookie
Nice article Giri. I agree the bowlers will rue not wrapping up the tail quickly, but at least they bowled england out twice and gave the batters 4th innings chases they ought to have achieved. India's batting really let them down. It should have been at least 2-2 going to The Oval. I guess much the same batting lineup will come to Australia, but looking forward is there really much point persisting with Pujara, Rahane, Vijay, Dhawan? Are these players ever likely to take their game to the next level or is it time to look at the next generation? Interested in your thoughts on Shastri? In public he is a great optimist cum cheerleader, but is he delivering as coach? I can't help but wonder about Kumble, the story is the players felt he pushed them too hard, but perhaps that approach in the long run might have paid dividends in South Africa and England?
Caractacus
Guest
I think you're being a bit hard on India. In previous tours they've often looked as if they didn't want to be there but in all but one test India have been competitive this time round. They have got problems with their batting lineup (who hasn't) but I think they'll do better in Australia than in England, the thing that did surprise me was the English spinners out bowling their Indian counterparts.....Rashid's delivery to remove Rahul was brilliant and pretty much sealed the result in the final test.
Steele
Guest
Expected to topple the hosts? You have got to be kidding.