India’s chance at glory in UK

#2. Weakness

Pujara will need to find his form soon

Injury scares

Even before the series has begun, India have lost Bhuvneshwar Kumar probably for the entire series and Jasprit Bumrah for first three tests. To make the matters worse, not only were they India’s best bet in South Africa but Bhuvneshwar was also India’s best bowler last time around in England.

Having gained all the experience he would have been raring to make it count this time around. Without much exaggeration, bowling would almost be 70 % effective without their ideal bowler in these conditions.

Survival of the fittest

Other than the Ashes, since the beginning of the millennium we have had only 4 test series of 5 matches with 3 of them featuring India. It not only tests your skills and abilities but is an ultimate test of the team’s bench strength. If you do not start well, the series will be a very long one as India figured it out in 2014.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar at the end of the series was nowhere close to where he was when the series began. With two bowlers already injured and others like Shami & Ishant always carrying an injury around in their kit bag, their ability to get through the entire series will be sternly tested and hence it is imperative that the key players find form early in the series.

Not so good recent form

If the performances in the county matches and A tours is considered for the selection of the team, then India's best defensive batsman might not feature in the XI. Cheteshwar Puajra had a dismal run, not only was he outscored by Ishant Sharma but in one of the games he took 60 balls to get off the mark.

As Sachin Tendulkar said in one of his interviews, tearing down the opposition should be followed by beating down the opposition. In conditions where the ball will move around the whole day, Pujara needs to find the right balance between scoring and surviving. Especially, with Kohli to follow him nobody wants a situation where he is trying to score for two batsmen at a time to take the game forward or in Kohli's own words "show the intent". Murali Vijay too had his own struggles in the only A match and will be looking to be among runs in the upcoming warm-up fixture

Dhawan vs Rahul

KL Rahul has always been on the wrong side of the selection. Unfortunately, Shikhar Dhawan’s extraordinary exploits in the sub-continent conditions have given him a nod ahead of Rahul. To be fair, KL did not make most of the opportunities he has got so far, especially in South Africa where he failed in all of the four innings and is yet to score a century since his 199 against England in Chennai.

Dhawan on the other hand has never finished an away tour. If he does get selected in the team this time, he needs to ensure that he plays right through the series and the team does not have to ponder over the opener’s selection in the midst of the series