These 5 coincidences were instrumental for India's success in England on previous tours

The limited overs series provided us with glimpses of how competitive India and England can be on the field. The England team began the tour as favorites considering their brutal form. However, India withered the storm with some amazing all-around skills in the T20I series, winning-1. it 2

Unfortunately, they couldn't replicate their performance in ODI series owing to injuries and middle-order conundrum. England capitalized on such issues and bagged the series 2-1 from being 0-1 down.

Without the services of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah, the Indian new ball bowlers struggled against the hard-hitting England batsmen, ultimately mounting the pressure on the spin-twins.

The Real Test Awaits

With the series scoreline being 1-1, the most awaited test series starts on 1 Aug 2018 at Edgbaston, Birmingham.

After attaining the test status, India made their test debut against England in 1932. Since then, the Indian team has toured to this esteemed cricketing nation for 17 times, managing to conquer it only on 3 occasions (1971, 1986 and 2007).

Kohli's performance will determine the result of the tour

The reason behind such poor success rate is the lack of suitable bowling line-up for the conditions and Indian batsman's struggle against lateral movement. As Virat Kohli and his men are geared up for the test series, let's have a look at some stats which were instrumental in India's successful tour of England.

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#5: Never lose a match at Lord's

Lord's, London- The Home of Cricket

Lord's cricket ground has been one of the weirdest arenas in cricket history, having an 8-ft slope from one end to another. The overseas teams have found it difficult to contemplate and effectively lose in the match.

The Indian team managed to win one (1986) and drew two (1971, 2007) matches in those victorious series, which obviously didn't work out in the 2014 England tour (one of India's famous overseas victory). It seems that the England team tend to get demoralized when they don't achieve the desired result at the home of cricket.

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#4: Best bowling figures in a match (Indian Bowler)

Successful tours: An Indian bowler had the best figures in a match

Normally, when it is the longest format, the home team's bowling attack will always have the upper hand over the opposition's bowling attack because of familiar conditions.

To the contrary, an Indian bowler finished with best figures for a match in each of those successful tours, thereby single-handedly won crucial matches for India.

1971- B S Chandrasekhar: 42.1-9-114-8

1986- Chetan Sharma: 53.3-6-188-10

2007- Zaheer Khan: 48-15-134-9

#3: The Indian tail wagged

Indian had the best 10th wicket partnership

In those 3 tours, the Indian team had the best 10th wicket partnership throughout the series. One of the famous 10th wicket partnerships against England came in the 2007 series.

In the 1st innings of the Oval Test (3rd match, 2007), Anil Kumble was on the verge of getting his maiden test hundred. At 591-9, Kumble stitched a 73-run partnership with Sreesanth and propelled India to a mammoth total of 664.

Sreesanth scored a quick-fire 35 off 32 balls (6 fours and a six) and provided the vital support to Kumble to score his maiden hundred (110* off 193 balls).

#2: Best 3rd wicket partnership

Dravid and Sachin were the pillars of Indian batting order in the 2007 series

In England, 3rd wicket partnership is always crucial for any team in test matches.

After seeing through the new ball, the middle-order batsman (usually No.4 batsman) attacks the slightly older ball to keep the scoreboard ticking before the next new ball is taken. In those 3 tours, the Indian team had the best 3rd wicket partnership in the series which helped them to build a fighting total in the match.

So, let us hope that Virat (as he is no.4 batsman) builds some crucial partnership for the 3rd wicket along with other top order batsman.

1971: Wadekar-Sardesai (93 runs)

1986: Amarnath-Vengsarkar (81 runs)

2007: Dravid-Sachin (97 runs)

#1: Highest wicket-taker in the series

Zaheer Khan was India's trump card in the 2007 series

When an overseas bowler tops the highest wicket-taker of the series list, it is obvious that the home team would have been in deep trouble. In 1971, both S Venkataraghavan and B S Chandrasekhar topped the list with 13 wickets each.

Chetan Sharma was the star of the 1986 series against England, ending up with 16 wickets in just 2 matches. He picked up 2 5-wkt hauls (innings) and a 10-wkt haul for the match.

Zaheer Khan was India's trump card in 2007 test series against England. He picked up 18 wickets in the tour with vital contributions from Kumble (14), RP Singh (12), and Sreesanth (9).