The team management problems that are hurting the Indian team overseas

Going into England, the Indian team was in an interesting situation- they were never a strong force overseas but the English were somewhat battered after their dismal performances in the previous two series. The edge that India had was the way they turned the tables in South Africa - after convincingly losing two Tests and the series with it, they remarkably turned the odds around to peg one back.

The team had it in them, they refused to back down even when everything seemed to be lost. However, grit alone can't win you series in foreign soils, as the support you get is critical to carefully channelize the grit into triumphs. The Indian management should face the cannon barrel as their tactics have let down the fans, and the players themselves, especially away from home.

Below are some of the questionable tactics and idiosyncrasies which have contributed to the vulnerability of a quality side in stranger tides. Many of these reasons are intertwined, so it would not be a Herculean task to ameliorate the situation focussing on even a single issue in these would have positive repercussions in the team's morale in under a year's time.

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1. Perform quick or get axed

KL Rahul: Is the management doing him justice?

For the first time in his captaincy career, Virat Kohli was finally found to field the same playing XI in two consecutive matches. Maybe he didn't want to tinker around the winning jinx, or maybe he has finally started to appreciate the importance of giving the players enough matches to get them set. Providing adequate rest to the pace bowlers is well justified.

However, "You fail to perform in a match, get ready for a change in your batting position or warm the bench"- has been the ordeal for most of the players. Yes, talents like KL Rahul are supreme to bench-warmers. However, adapting to requirements of a specialist batting position needs time. Kohli seems to forget this, maybe because of his own exceptional flexibility.

The captain's lack of faith reflects tremendously in a player's performance, the plight of the Australian team a few years ago is ample testimony for this. Lack of clarity about one's own roles also interferes with the player's psyche and morale on the field. If the situation goes uncorrected, even rifts and spats, like the ugly one that surfaced in the 2017 Champions Trophy, may potentially get more frequent.

2. Indian pitches = dustbowls

The infamous Nagpur pitch that symbolized the extremes of turn

From our baby-days in cricket, we have been famous for the plethora of top-quality spinners we churned out of the sub-continental dustbowls. Until the last decade, barring a few like Zaheer Khan and the illustrious Kapil Dev, most fast-bowlers were expected to wear out the new ball to provide grip for the spinners.

The heavy backlash of this unidirectional approach was the toothless performance of seamers overseas. However, times have changed and now we have a settled pace battery with the likes of Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar, Shami, and Ishant to name a few. They have performed remarkably abroad even when the home conditions offer little practice in a lush-green pitch, so imagine the havoc they can cause if given more practice in seam-friendly conditions, match-winners can be moulded.

The curious case of Hardik Pandya would also obtain some clarity, as he has shown intent in the off-chance where the pitch had something to offer. A precocious youngster like him needs some dedicated mentoring, else he can spiral down into another regretful example of a wasted prodigy.

The case of batting is even more critical. The classic "moving bowl outside off-stump" has proved to be the Achilles heel of most Indian batsmen. Similar troubles with the short ball have been addressed well but without local pitches assisting lateral movement, a similar solution can never be arrived at. Apart from Kohli himself, Pujara, and to an extent, Rahane, no one has been able to resist the temptation to poke at such balls. Especially the openers need to be taught restraint, else India will start on the back-foot every time they come out to bat away from home.

3. Wicketkeeper: A batsman who can keep

In the quest to become a better batsman, Karthik's glovework has seen a steady decline

As long as Wriddhiman Saha was around, India never felt the gap left by MS Dhoni. He could bat with the tail, gobble up more than half of the half-chances, and had safe hands overall. With the unfortunate injury, all the management has tried to do is to replace him with "a batsman who can keep".

KL Rahul, Parthiv Patel, Dinesh Karthik, and recently, Rishabh Pant have been tried in the spot but the wicketkeeping has continued to be abysmal. Forget about the half-chances, giving away byes is an intolerable sin in the international circuit.

When you've got to do squats for 90 overs, the keeping skills should become the deciding factor. And with searing pitches and fast outfields overseas, the task is not getting easier. Judging the ball off the pitch is no trivial task and anyone who can wield the bat, can't keep the wickets to an equal measure.

With no such players under the selectors' radar, the onus is to nurture someone who can fit the bill. If Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson are looked upon as possible long-term replacements, they should also be trained by keeping the current lesson in mind.

4. Anybody can be a slip fielder

Butterfingers in the slip cordon!

This is an extension of the previous problem. The role of slip-fielding in India's success in the longer format in the noughties is underappreciated. Dravid, Laxman, and Sachin had safe hands, at short leg for spinners or at slip for pacers.

In the current crop, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Murali Vijay have proved their mettle, but the same cannot be said about the rest. The situation was worse a couple of years ago, with catches dropped off spinners like Ashwin. When the ball nips off the seam and moves around in the air, the slip fielders should be on their toes to grab the whizzing red cherry.

Not many things can demoralize a seamer as a catch dropped off a wonderfully crafted delivery. Our players are young, so their reflexes can't be the issue, which points out to the lack of technique and poor judgment. Both this and the previous scenes can be resolved considerably if the problem of pitches is adequately addressed.

5. Want to see the new talents? Watch the IPL

Rishabh Pant had a terrific IPL, but a test entry based on that?

India's obsession with the glittering annual extravaganza is no strange tale, and don't get me wrong, the IPL has given us some amazing talents over the years. The fame bestowed on an IPL prodigy is tremendous for an overnight or even a seasonal performance. Two months is a short time when matched with a full first-class season.

And when it comes to the Test team, overlooking the players who grind it out in the first class circuit is unacceptable. Take the selection of Rishabh Pant and even Hardik Pandya for instances: both of these players have played only about 25 first-class matches. Even in the home conditions, this is just enough to set the temperament for the longer format.

Yes, once in a while, players like Jasprit Bumrah are unearthed with such experiences, however, more often than not, the case turns out to be like Karun Nair's, in which he was sent back into the local circuit for the much-needed experience after his record-breaking triple ton.

6. Tour matches? But why?

Key points like Hardik's role in the team were unaddressed

The purpose of tour matches is for the entire team to get acclimatized to the foreign conditions and for the management to figure out the best combinations. It was a tradition that was religiously followed before delving into the actual series, until quite recently. One of the prime complaints against the coach Kumble was that he was too dominating in the dressing room setup.

Ravi Shastri is the polar opposite as he prioritizes the personal lives of the players to some extent. This definitely has a positive impact on a player's psyche and many in the dressing room found this as a welcome change. However, now this has started to make the players a little complacent and overconfident in their abilities.

Tour matches were entirely skipped in the tour of South Africa earlier this year and the ODI leg of the English tour. It was almost as if the management had everything figured it out beforehand. The decisions were a definite backfire as India lost both the series. Maybe this had prompted the management to approach the three-day practice match against Essex with some semblance of seriousness.

Still, the end result was the same, as none other than the captain showed a continued intent. Team India has moved on a bit from an MS Dhoni who did not skip the 2015 World Cup even for the birth of his child.

Some of these problems are trivial, and it would be a travesty to see them withhold the current test team from achieving a legendary status. The tour of England is now a lost opportunity, but with a tougher down-under chapter coming up, a few tweaks will go a long way in changing the fortunes of the team.