6 questions Indian fans need to ask Ravi Shastri 

A 118-run defeat at the Oval culminated a 4-1 series loss for India in England. In a series that was promised as a golden opportunity for India to win a series on English soil, the ending was rather embarrassing. After such a defeat, the need for an inquest is obvious. For India, the bulk has to stop at head coach Ravi Shastri's desk.

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#6 Is the coaching staff helping the captain rectify his faults?

An unwritten rule about cricket is that the captain is king. Most of the points in this article will make you point a finger at the captain equally. More so in Ravi Shastri's case as everyone remembers Virat Kohli's role in his appointment.

However, the important point to remember is any coach taking over the Indian side at the moment has to work with Virat Kohli. Apart from the batting maestro, there is no other viable option for the captaincy candidate in the team. Any other potential candidate is either not a player who plays in each format or whose performances aren't good enough to make him worthy of a permanent place in the side at the moment.

Furthermore, like any other captain, Virat Kohli has his own style of working. Most of his decisions are naturally coming out of his ideology. No captain is always right and Kohli has made his share of mistakes. It is the job of the coaching staff to help the captain in corrections his flaws.

However, the big question that arises is whether the coach and his staff are helping the captain rectify his faults. One is bound to wonder whether the coach is challenging the captain in any of his decisions. At the moment, that does not seem to be the case.

#5 Why are the big claims falling short?

On the eve of the final test, Ravi Shastri declared his team to the "best travelling Indian team in the last 15-20 years", a comment which earned Shastri some rightful backlash. From 2002 to 2010, India drew a series in England, South Africa, and Australia. Let's not forget the historic series win in both England and New Zealand. The defeat at Oval only highlighted how wrong his comments were.

A series loss for 4-1 on paper is worse than the team's performance last time around. More or less the same group of players lost 3-1 under the leadership of MS Dhoni four years ago. The words of the coach now are of "team heading in the right direction".

Most fans will remember hearing the same words after the Australia series in 2014. At that time with a young squad, not many felt the need to disagree. However now, one is left wondering whether the talks of "progress" are an illusion?

Yes, the team gave a great fight. Yes, this series was more competitive than India's last two trips to England. However, the scoreline speaks for itself and it does not make pretty reading for Virat Kohli's side. Ultimately the results are what matter.

Let us not forget this is an English team that is coming off a humiliation in the Ashes, only a few months ago. Over the last three years, Pakistan has won three of their six test matches in England. Even West Indies won a test in England last year. Is it too much to expect the No. 1 Test side in the world to do better than them?

Even if there is progress, it will only do any good if the team learns from its mistakes and improve on their weaknesses. The current regime has shown no sign of doing so. The constant selection of Shikhar Dhawan in overseas tests despite repeated failures in SENA countries is one of many examples of the decision makers learning nothing from their errors.

#4 Are the underperforming players working on their batting technique?

Quite clearly, India's batting let the team down big time in England. Except for the genius of Virat Kohli, no other batsman displayed any sort of consistency over the course of the series. The top order collapsed time and again in the five matches. While there were a couple of significant knocks by Ajinkya Rahane and Chesteshwar Pujara, the general feeling was that Virat Kohli did not get the support he needed from his fellow batters.

While the players themselves deserve most of the blame for their lack of application, there are certain obvious technical issues which just did not go away. Be it the gap between Pujara's bat and pad or KL Rahul's struggle against the inswinging delivers. Rahane and Murli Vijay have also looked half the players they were on the last overseas cycle.

When such issues are arising, any player, no matter how great needs a mentor to help him. One must remember how Virat Kohli took Sachin Tendulkar's help after his ill-fated tour to England in 2014. At the moment, the most immediate help these players can get is from the team's support staff.

Questions of Ravi Shastri and Batting coach Sanjay Bangar are bound to arise as the same problems keep appearing again and again. One must not forget Ravi Shastri's decision to reject the decision to appoint Rahul Dravid as an overseas batting consultant.

#3 Were there any plans in place to prevent the opposition's tail from wagging?

At Edgbaston, India allowed England to reach a total of 246 from 87-7. In Southampton, England got to 246 after finding themselves reeling at 86-6. At Oval, England made 332 after losing their 7th wicket at the score of 181. Let us not forget Chris Woakes scoring his maiden test century at Lord's. England's lower order caused India problems almost every time in this series and the difference between the two sides in the series.

This problem is nothing new to Indian cricket. However, this series saw it being escalated more than ever before. Despite their wonderful performances all through the series, the bowlers struggled to dismiss the tail soon enough. Something like this occurring once or twice is understandable but when it happens so regularly. it is a cause of worry. When the issue crops up so many times, it is clear the problem is not just mental but also tactical.

That begs the question, did the team management work on strategies to counter the lower order onslaught? Were their plans in place against the likes of Sam Curran and others? Was there any discussions held with the bowlers and the captain on what they were doing wrong.

The cricket world saw the same mistakes being repeated. The bowlers kept bowling the wrong lines and the captain kept spreading the field as soon as someone started to attack. Not to forget Kohli not giving Ravichandran Ashwin the ball for more than an hour of Sam Curran's knock in the first test. How tough was it for the dressing room to send a message on the field. This only speaks of a failure of the coach in addressing the problems.

#2 Why didn't the team play more warm-up games?

The thing that stands out for the Indian side is that they were evidently underprepared. The team went into the first test on the back of only one warm-up game. In a move similar to cancelling a two warm-up games itinerary in South Africa, the team management decided to reduce India's tour game at Essex by a day to a three-day encounter.

In South Africa, the blame fell largely on the BCCI, who barely kept any gap between the home series against Sri Lanka and the flight to the rainbow nation. However, in England, the team was given sufficient time. Between the last ODI and the first test, there was a gap of almost two weeks.

In this case, it is hard to blame Virat Kohli. The Indian captain has started to play International cricket at a time when India has almost stopped playing practice games in lead up to overseas tours. Someone like Saurav Ganguly will tell you how important having at least a couple of practice games before the first test is.

Ravi Shastri himself comes from a time when India played as many warm-up games as test matches. Who better than him to start the tradition of playing a few practice games again in Indian cricket? Something the likes of England and Australia still do. The fact that India's performance was significantly better in the third test in both England and South Africa speaks volumes.

Yes, the opposition's quality or even the pitches are not the same quality in these matches. However, it is still better than having only net sessions. Despite not of the same level, it will give an exposure to a different type of bowlers in alien conditions. Net practice will not give batsman the feeling of scoring runs or bowlers the feeling of taking wickets, practice games will.

On a foreign tour, it's not always about the pitch or who you play but also about getting used to the weather. In England, there is the added factor of adjusting to playing with the Duke Ball. All this is best done in match situations. As they say, match practice is always the best practice.

#1 Why is the selection policy so broken?

England v India: Specsavers 5th Test - Day Two

The most pressing and frustrating concern of Indian fans is some of the selection decisions. At times, they have made little sense, starting with the decision to drop Ajinkya Rahane in South Africa for the first two tests. The decision to not field India's most consistent player from the last overseas cycle at the start of the new one was bizarre, to say the least.

Rahane's return in the third test where he scored a crucial 47 on a tricky pitch was a vindication of how poor the decision to not play him earlier was. How different could that have series been had the Mumbaiker played the first two games?

The trend continued in England when Cheteshwar Pujara was not in the playing 11 for the first test. It was unfathomable that India had dropped a player who spent the last three months in England playing County Cricket. In a team full of stroke players, Pujara is the only one with a defensive outset; something every team needs. Not to forget he is someone with a test average of over 50. Once again in a match that India lost by an extremely close margin, one was left wondering how different things could have been if Pujara was there.

Another shocking move was the decision to play two spinners at Lord's, where the first day was washed out by rain. It was clear that there was not going to be a fifth day. The weather prediction of even more rain was there for the world to see. Later in Southampton on a dry pitch, where even England played two spinners, India decided to go with just the one. When you read the conditions wrong twice, the team management has to take responsibility.

In England, twice India fielded unfit players. Bhuvneshwar Kumar's inclusion for the final ODI raised eyebrows from the start. Anyone watching could make out, he was not fully fit. The fears were confirmed with the news that the pacer could not take any part in the test series. Later, Ashwin took the field in Southampton despite not fully recovering from his injury. How much it cost India has been extensively documented. For decisions like these, the coach and his staff simply cannot be forgiven.

Above everything, there is a wider issue with India's team selection. Under Virat Kohli, only once has India ever fielded an unchanged lineup. The current regime has dropped each player at some point except for the Captain and player who made their debuts in this series.

There is understandably fear and insecurity in the players which is vivid. Most players are unable to play their natural game in such an atmosphere. KL Rahul symbolizes this notion. The team is finding it tough to find solutions to its problems because of this policy. The fact that India is still not sure about their middle order for ODIs is a great example.