England vs India 2018: 4 reasons why India lost the series

Not often do we see the Indian pace contingent grab headlines ahead of a Test series but this was one such instance. India arguably boasted a better pace battery than England and that was expected to aid the visitors in giving the English a tough run for their money. The batting unit was more or less the same which toured England in 2014, and theoretically speaking, they shouldn’t repeat the same mistakes again. By all accounts, this Indian team looked propitious to creating history on English soil. But as fate had it, it wasn't to be. India tenaciously held on to their habit of losing the key moments and will return with an unconvincing scoreline of 4-1 in England's favor.

This unflattering drubbing can be ascribed majorly to four reasons.

---

#4 Team Selection

The selection surprises started right from the first Test

The sidelining of Pujara in the first Test gave us a glimpse of what was to be expected selection-wise, in the series. Pujara’s unalarming attitude to the out-swingers and his improved technique against the inswingers meant he didn’t have an outright weakness in England. If only he had played that eventful first Test!

Kuldeep’s Yadav’s inclusion in the Lord’s Test was perhaps Kohli’s way of overcompensating the Pujara blunder. Such was the ineffectiveness that the chinaman was axed for the last two Tests.

Ashwin’s name in the fourth Test’s squad sheet was probably the deciding point of the series from a selection perspective. The Chennai lad couldn’t get his rhythm, struggled to land the ball in the rough and in all likelihood looked like he was struggling to even bowl. Ashwin couldn’t conjure the magic England’s secondary spinner Moeen could and it injured the team’s chances astronomically.

#3 Indian batsmen took a long time to hit form

The Indian batsmen weren't scoring runs in both the innings of a Test match

Forget consistency, the Indian batsmen scored runs at a premium early on in the series. Everyone barring Kohli seemed like they started playing cricket yesterday. The first match was fought by the lone warrior, Kohli. At Lord’s, everyone failed in unison.

Post the 2nd match, batsmen slowly started getting into their groove. Rahane ended his fifty drought and Pujara lent an able hand, which saw the Indian team notch their first win of the series. The fourth Test saw Kohli, Pujara, and Rahane showing signs of spirit and in the last Test, the crowd was greeted with spectacles from Pant and Rahul.

Even such a spread-out performance couldn’t save India’s hopes as none of the batsmen aside from Kohli managed to contribute in both the innings of a single Test.

#2 The Toss

India lost all the five tosses in this series

Though the outcome of a toss cannot be controlled, the outcome of a match can be controlled by the toss. Kohli’s love for calling ‘Heads’ was demonstrated at the toss after his losing spree remained unbroken till the end of the series.

You can correlate better with the impact of the toss upon the realization that Root lost the only match in which he opted to field first. In all other matches, he elected to bat and evidently ended up on the winning side. Had Kohli and Co batted first on the remaining occasions, who knows what might have happened!

#1 Unable to clean up the tail

Sam Curran amassed 272 runs in this series

As commendable the Indian bowlers were in this series, they also lacked a game plan against the tail. The tail-enders were the unsung heroes for England as time and again the ‘tail-wag’ became a thing.

Ishant’s effectiveness against southpaws fell through as Sam Curran wore stubbornness along with his shirt every time he came to bat. Jos Butler played with the tail like he had been planning it for years. You almost felt like Adil Rashid came in as a batsman after he soaked up all the balls for fun. Contrastingly Pandya, Ishant, Shami, and Bumrah were more than content in spending time in the dressing room than on the ground with the willow.

Perhaps in a series where the conditions formed an ally with the bowlers and abandoned the batsmen, it was the tail-enders who decided the balance of the game.