There are two ways of looking at the series loss in England.
1. You can take heart in the fact that India ran England close in all the Tests except for the second one at Lord’s. They lost all four tosses and competed on equal terms for the majority of every Test, but failed to close out the tight moments that defined the result.
2. You can look back at the tour of South Africa and draw parallels, and perhaps, learn some valuable lessons. India had their moments there also but just like this tour, could not cross the finish line. They might not have been outplayed in most of the games, there is no place to hide from the fact that India lost both series.
While sticking with the first narrative will give hope and keep the flock upbeat, it will not really initiate progress. After all, India drew a Test in South Africa and won a Test in England in 2014 too. Since those were the first tours to these places for most of these players, you could understand the results.
But on this tour, India travelled as the No 1 Test side in ICC rankings and the current strength, or the lack of it, of their opponents had presented a realistic possibility of winning the series. That’s why it’s prudent to spend more time on the second narrative, for that will put the team on the path of improvement.
Players, especially batsmen, tend to get better with age and experience but it hasn’t really reflected in this year’s overseas performances thus far. Virat Kohli is the only batsman who has managed to upgrade his skills significantly. The rest seemed to have either regressed or stagnated.
In 2014, opening the innings was a problem and unfortunately, it continues to be a problem in 2018. In fact, it has become a bigger worry with Murali Vijay no longer a part of the Test squad. Kl Rahul hasn’t scored a fifty in the last 12 overseas innings and Shikhar Dhawan’s returns aren’t too dissimilar, for he hasn’t crossed the fifty mark in his last eight overseas innings.
In 2014, India toyed with Stuart Binny in the seam-bowling all-rounder’s slot. While Hardik Pandya has done a little better than Binny, the slot is still nowhere close to getting filled properly. Despite his heroics in Nottingham, Pandya is still the fourth seam-bowler and not a batsman who fits into the top six of a Test team.
If there is a quantifiable improvement, it’s in the bowling department, for they have dismissed the opposition twice in six out of the seven overseas Tests in 2018. While taking 20 wickets is essential to win, that alone isn’t always enough, for India have lost four of the six Tests in which their bowlers took 20 wickets without conceding a mountain of runs.
But even there, there seems to be room for improvement. On this tour, they managed to remove the English top-order without much damage but invariably, the lower-order continued to be a thorn in their flesh. They say that removing the tail is an art and, perhaps, that’s the next challenge for India’s bowlers.