England vs India, 2018: Ranking the Indian players' performances in the series

India had a series to forget as they were hammered a 1-4 defeat by England. The Indian batting performance was well below par as except Kohli no Indian batsman was able to score at least 300 runs in the series. The batsmen played down the long line, were tentative against the English seamers and edged a lot of deliveries outside the off-stump.

On the other hand, the Indian seamers bowling performance saved the blushes of the Indian team. Shami, Ishant, and Bumrah bowled the perfect line and length and hence troubled the English batsmen to a great extent. They almost picked up 20 wickets in every match of the series.

Hence, the Indian team especially the batsmen need to go back to the drawing room and introspect about what went wrong for them in this series and come out all the guns blazing in the next Test series.

Let us have a look at the rating of the Indian players in this series.

Note: Only those players who featured in at least 3 matches have been considered here.

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Openers

Shikhar Dhawan - 2/10

Shikhar Dhawan had a very average tour. Despite given umpteen number of opportunities, he has repeatedly failed to cement his position as an opener in difficult conditions outside the subcontinent. In England, despite getting starts, he couldn't convert into a big score to ensure that India could put a good total on board.

In 8 innings, Dhawan has managed to score just 162 runs at an average of 20.25. Unfortunately, he has failed to play the prolific swing bowling of Anderson, Broad, and Curran with the right technique and hence has either played down the long line or edged the ball outside the off-stump.

KL Rahul - 4.5/10

KL Rahul had an average tour and hence has himself raised questions regarding his place in the Indian Test team in the future. Being regarded as a technically solid batsman who has got good footwork, he failed to read the swing and hence was an easy prey for world-class new ball bowlers, Anderson and Broad.

In 10 innings, Rahul has managed to score just 299 runs at an average of 29.90. His score of 149 in the 2nd innings of the last Test match was instrumental in keeping India alive in the run chase.

Hence, Rahul has to seriously introspect about how he can improve his performances abroad.

Middle-order

Cheteshwar Pujara - 6/10

Pujara had a decent Test series and was one of the players who left the ball outside the off-stump with perfection in almost all matches. In spite of having a good technique and getting good starts, Pujara was only able to score a century in only one inning. Hence, he was unable to help India to put up a formidable total on board which could have challenged the out of form English top and middle-order.

Despite being left out of the first Test match, Pujara managed to score 278 runs in 8 innings at an average of 39.71. He also in this tour scored his first ever century in English conditions. This was his only positive and crucial contribution for India in this series.

Virat Kohli - 9.5/10

Virat Kohli was India's best player in the series. Without his contribution with the bat, the Indian scorecard would have looked in a miserable condition. He alone took on the mighty English bowling in their own backyard. Despite escaping luckily a number of times, Kohli won his battle against Anderson as he didn't get out even once on his bowling throughout the series.

In 10 innings, Kohli scored a mammoth 593 runs at an average of 59.30. Having scored two hundred in this series, Kohli has finally broken the shackles of not being able to play in English conditions.

His team selections and on-field decisions though were quite surprising at times throughout the series.

5) Ajinkya Rahane - 3.5/10

Ajinkya Rahane has given a very unimpressive performance in this Test series as per the standards set by him. Being regarded as India's best batsman in overseas conditions, he, unfortunately, failed to justify this tag in this series.

He nicked too many balls outside the off-stump and was also a leg-before candidate for English bowlers due to his late feet movement.

He has scored only 257 runs in 10 innings at an average of 25.70. Being regarded as a technically sound batsman who moves his feet quite well to fast bowlers, it was quite astonishing to see the way in which he was dismissed in the series.

Wicket-keeper, All-rounder

Rishabh Pant - 4/10

Pant was picked in the last three Test matches of this series to replace Dinesh Karthik who had horrible first two Test matches with the bat. In spite of looking prominent with the bat in the third Test with a score of 24 on debut, Pant's performance gradually faded in the remaining two Test matches. His performance with the gloves was also unsatisfactory as he conceded too many byes due to his ill-refined technique of catching the ball, particularly on his weaker right side.

In 5 innings, he managed to score 162 runs at an average of 27. His score of 114 runs in the 2nd innings of the last Test was quite impressive. Hence, his performance with the bat or with the gloves hasn't certainly justified his right to remain as the front-line wicket-keeper batsman for India in next series. Hence, his place in the Test team will be subject to scrutiny before the next Test series.

Hardik Pandya - 5.5/10

Hardik Pandya had a mixed-bag Test series. Except for his one match-winning performance in the 3rd Test with the bowl and bat, he wasn't able to provide any substantive performance in other Test matches in this series. Despite being an aggressive batsman, he resorted to defending even the spinners which proved to be quite disappointing.

With the bat, he managed to score 164 runs in 8 innings at an average of 23.42. He was more influential for India with the ball as he managed to take 10 wickets in 6 innings at an average of 24.70 and economy rate of 3.84.

Spinners

Ravichandran Ashwin - 6.5/10

Ashwin has been quite impressive for India despite carrying a hip injury which had probably prevented him from playing the last Test match. In comparison to his previous tour in England in 2014, Ashwin has improved quite a lot and has continuously tossed the ball to get help from the pitch throughout the series.

In 7 innings Ashwin has taken 11 wickets at an average of 32.72 and economy rate of 2.57. With the bat too he has contributed some useful runs in the lower-order especially in challenging conditions in the 2nd Test at Lords.

Fast Bowlers

Mohammed Shami - 9/10

Shami was the most impressive bowler for India in the Test series. He was the bowler who beat the outside edge numerous times and picked up wickets at regular intervals. His rare ability to reverse swing an old ball caused a lot of problems for the English batsmen.

In 9 innings, Shami picked up 16 wickets at an average of 38.87 and at an economy rate of 3.60. He was quite unlucky not to get more wickets despite bowling superb spells. Hence, it was quite a successful tour for Shami.

Ishant Sharma - 8/10

Ishant Sharma had a successful English tour. He was deadly accurate with the ball, bowled good line and length and troubled the English opening pair throughout the series. Even with the old ball, he bowled tight and kept the pressure from one end. His height ensured that he got a good bounce on all surfaces to trouble the batsmen.

In 9 innings he picked up 18 wickets at an impressive average of 24.27 and an economy rate of 2.89. His economy rate indicates that he has improved a lot and not conceded runs by bowling half volleys. Hence, Ishant has managed to maintain his stature in the Indian team as the most senior fast bowler in terms of experience and wickets.

Jasprit Bumrah - 8/10

Jasprit Bumrah has had a great outing in England. His slinging action has surprised the English batsmen throughout the Test series. His ability to ball a great line, swing the ball due to his action and bowl deadly pace has helped India to win at least one Test match in the series. His performance in the third Test was quite impressive and was successfully able to get the wickets of in-form Butler and Stokes.

In 6 innings Bumrah has managed to pick up 14 wickets at an average of 25.92 and at an economy rate of 2.72. He has been the strike bowler for India and has broken partnerships at crucial stages throughout the series.