England vs India 2018: 4 Reasons why India lost the Test series vs England

Yet another overseas Test series, and yet another loss for team India. At the beginning of the series, the expectations from Kohli's men were sky high, especially after the impressive win against the Proteas at Johannesburg in the third Test earlier this year.

However, just like in the series against South Africa, team India failed to peak at the right time and ended up flattering to deceive, once again.

It was not as if the Indians were outplayed completely by England. Team India had its share of moments in the series where it displayed glimpses of its stature as the No.1 ranked team.

There were moments where India had England right on the mat and could have gone on to have the better of the English.

But familiar nemeses, especially the failure to play the incoming and outgoing deliveries, and the inability to counter Moeen Ali's spin, proved too costly as India crumbled under pressure at Southhampton to gift England an unassailable 3-1 lead.

In order to win a Test series, especially under unfamiliar conditions, a team has to seize the moments when it has the opposition under pressure. It was the failure to seize the momentum that cost India dearly. Either they allowed England to run amok with significant lower-order partnerships when the regular batsmen had been dismissed cheaply or lost wickets in groups after having had a steady partnership.

Here we have a look at 4 important reasons for team India's defeat.

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#1 Failure of openers

The tendency to play away from the body and poke into deliveries seaming away was the downfall of Indian openers

The importance of a steady opening partnership cannot be overstated in a Test match, especially under seaming English conditions. It is mandatory for the openers to see off the new ball and counter the swinging deliveries from Anderson and Broad to provide a stable start.

But team India's openers failed miserably in the series. In India's sole victory at Trent Bridge, Indian openers put up a rare 50+ run opening stand in both the innings. Apart from that, Indian openers faltered in the remaining six innings.

Murali Vijay discovered that his ability to leave the balls outside the off had deserted him and was found wanting as he constantly played away from his body.

Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul too faced similar problems and Rahul was found vulnerable for LBWs even against the incoming deliveries.

The openers' failure meant that the middle order was exposed early to the new ball which affected the stability of the batting line-up.

More than scoring runs, it is important for the openers to see off the new ball and protect the middle order.

However, their failures that ensued due to technical deficiencies meant that much of the responsibility had to be carried by Kohli.

The Indian team management has its task cut out as the search for an opener who possesses the ability to survive against the new ball continues. It would not be a surprise if Rahul makes way for Prithvi Shaw in the final Test at the Oval.

#2 Lower middle order troubles

The lack of resilience from India's lower middle order batsmen was one of the reasons for India's series defeat

In Edgbaston, India had England right on the mat at 87-7 in the 2nd innings. But the Indians failed to seize the momentum and allowed Sam Curran to run amok with his late blitz of 63. It proved too costly for India as the target of 194 was too much to chase in the final innings.

In Lord's, England was under pressure at 89-4. from India's 1st innings total. But yet again, the Indian bowlers failed to capitalize on their impressive start as Chris Woakes took them to the cleaners with his terrific innings of 137 after coming in to bat at 131-5.

Woakes' innings helped England stretch their total to 396, a lead of 289 runs from India's 1st innings total.

The story was similar at Southampton where England's lower middle order stretched the total to 246 in the first innings despite being 86-6 at one stage.

On the contrary, India's lower middle order showed little resistance and Kohli was left alone without support at the other end more often than not.

Both the keepers Karthik (21 runs in four innings) and Pant (43 runs in four innings) did not make any active contributions.

Rahane did not come to fore until the third Test. Ashwin and Pandya too, with some exceptions, did not emulate the kind of blitz that England's lower middle order batsmen showed.

In hindsight, India's inability to curtail England's lower middle order and the failure of their own lower middle order batsmen proved to be a decisive factor against India.

#3 Ashwin not being up to the mark at Southampton

Ashwin's inability to find form cost India dearly at Southampton

Ravichandran Ashwin is undoubtedly one of the best spinners in the world currently. That he is the fastest player to reach200, 250 and 300 Test wickets is no small achievement.

In the first Test at Edgbaston, Ashwin proved his credentials as India's no. 1 Test spinner as he ripped through the English batting line-up.

His twin dismissals of Alastair Cook is a stuff of the legends. There was dip, grip, turn and drift in his bowling as he enticed the English batsmen to make mistakes and ended up with seven wickets.

In Lord's though, there was nothing much he could have done as the assistance for spinners was minimal and in India's victory at Trent Bridge his contribution was minimal.

However, Ashwin faltered when it mattered the most. In Southampton, there was no semblance of his performance at Edgbaston.

There were distinct footmarks visible on the pitch in Southampton that would have had any spinner smacking his lips.

But Ashwin failed to capitalize on the advantage as he failed to consistently land the ball on the rough.

Instead, he focussed more on variations and experimented too much. Moreover, he consistently bowled at a higher pace, above 90 kph, something that acted as an impediment on a track where spinners are expected to bowl at a slower pace in order to entice the batsmen.

On the contrary, his English counterpart Moeen Ali executed his job perfectly as he bowled consistently into the rough and constantly had Indian batsmen on the mat, taking nine wickets and helping England wrap up the series.

Ali rarely experimented and stuck his basics, bowling at a much slower pace, as was expected on this wicket.

Also, his injury did not help Ashwin's cause. Ashwin ended up picking only 1 wicket in England's second innings which was a major cause of India's undoing as the Indian batsmen found the target unsurmountable.

#4 Improper team selection

Jadeja would have been a perfect folly for Ashwin under spinner friendly conditions in Southampton

Team selection has been one of Kohli's Achilles heel ever since his ascent to captaincy. Though Kohli has been in incredible form with the bat, he has often faced flak for his less than impressive team selection.

The Southampton Test was the first instance of Kohli playing the same XI in two consecutive Tests ever since he became the captain in December 2014.

His bizarre selection of the playing XI continued to haunt him as some poor choices led to India suffering yet another overseas defeat.

In the first Test at Edgbaston, Kohli decided to drop India's most reliable Test batsman Cheteshwar Pujara and decided to go with Rahul in his place. The move backfired as Rahul was unable to translate his limited overs form into the Test arena.

India was unable to chase the target of 194 primarily because their batsmen, apart from Kohli, failed to prolong their stay at the crease and there were no solid partnerships. Pujara, with his ability to bat for long hours, could have made a difference to the result as Kohli failed to find a single partner who could bat with him for long hours.

In Lord's, under overcast conditions that were helpful for seam and swing, Kohli sprang yet another surprise as he dropped Umesh Yadav and instead went ahead with Kuldeep Yadav.

The move supremely backfired as Kuldeep bowled only nine overs in the entire match and was not of much use. An extra seamer would have helped India's cause.

In Southampton, despite the track having a lot of rough patches, Kohli decided to stick with Pandya instead of going in with an extra spinner in Jadeja.

Despite his heroics at Trent Bridge, the management could have introspected and included Jadeja as the second spinner. Ashwin's lack of form and fitness meant that India sorely missed Jadeja's services as India went down by 60 runs.