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

#5 Treat 'draw' as a result too

The captain and coach should be flexible with the game plan depending upon the match situation

Test cricket has become result-oriented in recent times. Most of the matches get over within four days, with drawn games having become rare.

The current Indian captain and coach have constantly maintained that this team will always play with aggression and will not play for a draw. But that may not always be the wisest strategy.

In the Oval Test, with five wickets in hand going into the final session, Rishabh Pant played a slog just after KL Rahul got dismissed. He had Ravindra Jadeja, who scored a brilliant 86* in the first innings, for company, and could have gone for a draw.

Similarly, on Kohli's captaincy debut at Adelaide in 2014, India lost 8 wickets in the final session while going for a win.

On both the occasions, the team should have altered the initial approach after the fall of wickets. While aggression is necessary, what should also be taken into account that a draw is a better result than a loss - especially when there are only remote chances of a victory.

The gritty knock Parthiv Patel played on debut at Nottingham in 2002, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's 76* at Lord's in 2007, Gautam Gambhir's patient innings of 137 (436) at Napier in 2009 - these are some of the match-saving innings which are etched vividly in the memories of cricket fans.

Those drawn games paved the way for drawing or winning the series overseas, which is something that Kohli needs to consider on this tour Down Under.