5 reasons why India are struggling to win overseas Test series

Before the start of the year, the Indian team were the favourites to win the Test series in both South Africa and England. But, Virat Kohli and his men suffered a 2-1 series loss in the Rainbow nation earlier this year and in the recently-concluded Test series in England, they lost the series 4-1.

Though the scoreline reads 2-1 and 4-1, it does not tell a story on how well the Indian team has fought in both the tours. They gave the hosts a run for their money and when things were in control, they let it slip out of their own hands and ended up on the losing side on almost every single instance barring the Lord's Test where they were completely outplayed by England.

Let us take a look at five reasons why India are failing to win overseas Test series in spite of dominating the opposition in every single game.

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Inability to wrap up the tail

Sam Curran, the batsman, was frustrating for the Indians throughout the series

This has been the Indian team's Achilles heel in the recent past as they are still searching for an overseas series win. Without a second thought, the Indian team is having a lethal bowling unit that has the ability to take 20 wickets in a Test, something that the Indian teams in the past didn't have. But, the bowlers should be more consistent than they are if the team wants to win matches abroad on a consistent basis.

The bowling unit has enough in their tank to dismiss the top-order and the middle-order batsmen in quick-time and that is when they are letting the game drift away from them. Right from the Brisbane Test in 2014 to the Galle Test in 2015, India have suffered because of this.

The problem is yet to be rectified as Kohli and his men let the tail wag for far too long on so many occasions in the tour of South Africa and England in 2018 and paid the price for it. The likes of Keshav Maharaj, Vernon Philander, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Adil Rashid etc. have been the thorn in India's flesh down the order in the last one year.

The bowlers should have plans in place for the lower-order batsmen and should look to dismiss them cheaply and restrict the opposition to a lesser score.

The absence of an extra batsman

A batsman who can bowl or bowler who can bat?

Whenever India played a Test series, the main dilemma has been their team combination, whether the captain should play seven batsmen and four bowlers or six batsmen and five bowlers. The emergence of Hardik Pandya gave Virat Kohli an option of playing just six specialist batsmen and four frontline bowlers with Hardik as the all-rounder.

But, he wasn't used well as a bowler as he hardly bowled over 10 overs in an innings. Adding to this, he has been getting starts with the bat and throwing his wickets away soon after. Playing an extra batsman in place of Hardik would have got some runs for the team, something the team has been needing in Tests overseas.

Spinners failing to do the trick

Moeen Ali outperformed R Ashwin in the series in spite of playing three games less

Not long ago India had both their spin bowlers, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja as the world number 1 and 2 in Test cricket. So, a lot was expected of them when the team began their overseas sojourn.

R Ashwin played two matches in South Africa and was outbowled by the Proteas' spinner Keshav Maharaj. Against England, Ashwin got off to a good start as he picked seven wickets in the first Test and everyone assumed that his county experience is coming in handy for him.

A couple of Tests later, when the conditions were favourable for him at the Ageas Bowl, he was the least effective of the Indian bowlers while his English counterpart Moeen Ali ran away with the Man of the Match by taking nine wickets including a five-wicket haul.

He was later replaced by Ravindra Jadeja for the final Test and ended up picking seven wickets and scoring a fifty in the first innings of the Test.

The top-order failure

Time to say Goodbye?

One of the main reasons for India's failure has been the form of the opening batsmen. Murali Vijay was the team's first-choice opener when India toured South Africa and England, thanks for his past performances in those conditions. By the end of India's tour of England, he was dropped from the side and was replaced by Prithvi Shaw.

His opening partners in both the tours, KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan were not great either as all three of them managed to score just one century among them in both the countries and that came off the bat of Rahul in his final innings in England. The openers failing meant that the middle-order batsmen walked out to bat under a lot of pressure and couldn't play their natural game.

Constant chopping of players

Time for Virat Kohli to identify his first-choice XI

Not just overseas, this is a problem that the current Indian team is facing as skipper Virat Kohli often changes the playing XI. It is very evident from the fact that he has played the same XI in two consecutive matches in the 39 matches he captained India in the format.

If a player fails to perform, he finds himself out of the playing XI in quick-time. Even the likes of Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara were spared as Rahane was overlooked for "in-form" Rohit Sharma in South Africa while Pujara was made to sit out to accommodate all three openers, who were playing well prior to the start of the first Test against England.

What is the kind of message the team management is trying to send to the players? Because of this, there are chances that players might feel insecure about their place in the side and play for themselves and eventually get out.