Australia vs India 2018-19: 5 tactical factors that India need to consider to ensure success Down Under

#4 Do not let a single partnership turn the match around

Sam Curran built useful partnerships with the lower order at a brisk rate

In recent series against England and South Africa, India were in dominating positions many times. But a couple of quickfire partnerships from the opponents turned out to be game-changing.

For example, the attacking knock that Sam Curran played at Edgbaston helped England recover from 87/7 to post 180.

A partnership can be built at any point in Test cricket, but the Indian team should be wary of giving away too many runs briskly. The salient feature of the Curran knock was the runs he scored in the third man region, which came off hard slashes or genuine edges.

Having attacking fields is necessary, but at least the areas where majority of the runs are scored should be covered.

Similarly, in the Southampton Test and the Cape Town Test, India could not maintain the upper hand and lost the matches by narrow margins.

The Australian conditions are more conducive for batting than England and hence, keeping a check on the run rate is paramount.