5 reasons why losing the England series is good for Indian Cricket in the long run

Virat Kohli was ready to play county cricket for a month. Ravi Shastri bragged about the team's ability to win on any surface. BCCI was confident about India's preparations, having arrived in England a month before the first test was played.

Having lost the previous two tours of England, India tried to do everything they could, in order to get a different result during this tour.

Players were different. Preparations were different. Expectations were different.

But alas, the result, just the same: 4-1.

When India lost in 2011 and 2014, there wasn't much they could do. They were simply outplayed and were never much in the series. Why this series loss hurt more was because India had the capability and expertise to win the series, yet poor team management and selections along with lousy attitudes and lethargic shots prevented the same.

The major positive to come out of this series loss was the acknowledgement of problems Indian cricket is facing, and the need to address those problems.

Sometimes, a couple of series losses can be an investment for many better tours ahead. Here are 5 positives to come out of the England series loss, provided they are addressed appropriately by the management.

Individualistic opinions over the 'Yes-men' approach

It is no surprise that the current Indian team is Virat Kohli's team. The coach, selectors, board - all bow down to Kohli and agree to everything the captain wants. Now, while the intentions of Kohli are noble, they may not always be the right decision from the team's perspective. Kohli, the batsman is far far superior to Kohli the leader.

At such a time, he needs experience, he needs someone who has led the team before and understands test cricket, to guide him and point out his mistakes. From the outside, it looks as if Ravi Shastri is not that man. Anil Kumble voiced his opinion to him before, and we all know the result of what transpired then. Kohli needs individualistic opinions and someone to guide him with a different point of view, instead of having Yes-Men all around him, and it seems that the BCCI is well aware of it.

No more chopping and changing

Dropping Cheteshwar Pujara, India's highly valued test specialist for the first test to accommodate white ball bullies like Dhawan, Rahul and Pandya was an atrocious move. Further, dropping terrific performers like Bhuvaneshwar, Rahane, Pujara, Jadeja over the last couple of tours has made it clear that a team cannot perform well if all the players' positions are under the scanner in every game.

India has realised this problem, and it is certain that the same won't be the case in future tours, where a player would be selected and then persisted with, before getting the axe.

Lessen the arrogance of Kohli and Shastri

With Ravi Shastri claiming that this Indian team is the best in the last 15-20 years, better than the teams which had greats like Sachin, Sourav, Sehwag, Laxman, Kumble and Zaheer ; and Virat Kohli slamming a journalist by not answering whether he agrees or not with Shastri's views, the captain and the coached breathed arrogance.

It is good for them to taste this loss so that they understand the importance of humility as a virtue and don't spoil the image of Indian cricket publicly. They should be open to criticism and different opinions and not be arrogant about themselves.

Respecting the conditions

It is very important to respect the conditions and play accordingly - this Indian team has just learnt it after the gruelling tour. Instead of always going for runs and dominating the bowling, the batsmen learnt the importance of having a good defence and respecting the overhead conditions.

India has learnt the lesson of respecting the conditions, the proof of which is coach Shastri asking for a couple of warm-up matches before the Australian tour, in order for the team to get assimilated to the conditions.

Understanding the difference between Red-Ball cricket and White-Ball cricket

Finally, India has learnt that there is a tremendous amount of difference between red-ball cricket and white ball cricket. In red-ball cricket, it is important to make the new ball count. The red-ball moves far more than the white ball, for a much longer period of time. An excellent white ball player can look pretty ordinary while playing red-ball cricket - Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Yuvraj Singh are proofs of that.

This tour has taught the Indians the difference between red-ball and white-ball cricket and how white-ball cricket cannot be counted as a preparation to play the red-ball and also how players shouldn't be picked in red-ball cricket based on their performance with the white-ball.