India vs England : Three things that need to change for Team India before third Test 

The second match between India and England played at Lord's, turned out to be a one-sided affair with the hosts managing to outclass the visitors by a massive margin of an innings and 159 runs. The match was dominated by the hosts from the first day and it stayed that way pretty much throughout its conclusion.

With Indian team being low on confidence and already being 2-0 down in the five-match series, there is absolutely no room for any error. With the third Test match between India and England starting from 18th August 2018, there are certain things that need to change for India before the third Test match actually starts.

So, let's have a look at the three things that need to change if India are to win the third Test match against England at Trent Bridge, Nottingham:-

# 3) Luck at the toss

In India's last five overseas Test matches, which includes three-Test match series against South Africa and the first two Test matches in the ongoing series against England, toss has been the major factor in deciding the outcome of the match. In the last five matches, the team which has won the toss have gone onto win the match.

With the Indian team under immense pressure and series on the line, Indian team management will be hoping that their luck at the toss changes and they get the first use of the favorable conditions, be it favorable for batting or for bowling.

# 2) A look at the team selection

Any team management selects its best XI for the first match of the series and considering the outcome of that match and playing conditions for the rest of the matches in the series they alter the team accordingly.

However, in the ongoing series, it has been observed that Indian team management has made some debatable team selections be it Chesteshwar Pujara's omission from the first Test or Kuldeep Yadav 's inclusion in the second Test match. It felt like the team management made those decisions just for the sake of making changes and just to make something happen.

With series on the line and Indian players low on confidence, the Indian team management can"t afford to make another error while selecting the team. Instead of focussing on making too many changes without considering the onfield conditions, they should maybe just try and give confidence to the players because it is because of the players' performance only, that team India is currently ranked no.1 in the Test rankings.

#1) Defensive mindset has to change

Virat Kohli comes across as a captain with an aggressive mindset and India under his leadership has oozed every bit of that aggression on the field, irrespective of the match situation.

However, in the second Test match at Lord's, especially in the second innings, for the first time in a very long time, Team India showcased a very defensive mindset.

It is said that extraordinary situations call for extraordinary measures and after what transpired in the first innings where India was bowled out for just 107 runs and trailed by a massive margin of 289 runs, everybody expected them to show positive intent in the second innings and probably incorporate the style of the English batsmen, who maintained a run rate of more than four runs per over during their first innings batting display. However, the complete opposite happened as Indian team just went into their shell and looked to defend, which played into the hands of the English bowlers and India was once again bundled out for just 130 runs.

The Indian team should look to play their natural game, which is to look for runs and not allow the opposition bowlers to bowl in the corridor of uncertainty consistently because on these type of pitches, irrespective of how many runs you have made or how many balls you have faced, there will always be a ball which can get you out. So, you need to maximize your stay on the wicket by being aggressive not only in your batting but also in your running and even while you are leaving the ball in order to get the bowlers of their lengths.