8 mistakes by Team India and the management that led to their downfall against England

In this article, we take a brief look at the primary reasons that might have contributed to the poor showing of the Indian team in England. India did show a spirited display throughout the series, though the lack of application from the Indian batsman to withstand the conditions in England let India down.

An excellent partnership from KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant at Oval raised expectations in the Indian dressing room before Rashid produced a brilliant delivery to dislodge Rahul followed by a loose shot from Pant ended India's hopes.

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#1 Lack of Test match practice

Shikhar Dhawan was caught behind in 5 of is 8 innings in England

India played England after the IPL in a bilateral series consisting of 5 Tests, 5 ODI's and 2T20's. Their previous test match was on 27th Jan 2018 in South Africa. The test against Afghanistan on June 14th would not qualify as a preparation for the England series. India had a 4-day warm-up match ahead of the first test against Essex, who are currently fifth in Division one of the County Championship. The Indian team management felt it would be better off to play against quality opposition and reduced the game to 3 days.

India - 395 & 89/2 drew Essex - 359/8 dec. Vijay, Kohli, Karthik, Pandya, and Rahul scored half-centuries, while Dhawan collected a pair. Yadav collected 4 wickets and Sharma got 3.

County Performance

Vijay 2 innings for Essex scoring 129 runs with a best of 73*.

Pujara 12 innings for Yorkshire scoring 172 runs with a best of 41.

#2 - Dropping Cheteshwar Pujara from the First Test

Cheteshwar Pujara would have helped India to start on a bright note

A strange decision by the Indian management to drop Pujara has left India struggling before the start of the first test. Pujara, who had a tough county stint, would have been an integral player to the Indian team, in wearing down the opposition bowlers. His replacement Rahul failed to impress and Dhawan, who should have been dropped ahead of Pujara continued his struggle in Test matches.

Pujara - 278 runs facing 726 balls was at the crease for 948 mins.

Rahul - 278 runs facing 450 balls was at the crease for 750 mins.

Dhawan - 162 runs facing 292 balls was at the crease for 453 mins.

Vijay - 26 runs facing 75 balls was at the crease for 109 mins.

#3 - Kuldeep Yadav preferred ahead of Ravindra Jadeja

Kuldeep Yadav need to work a lot on improving his ability with the Red ball

Another poor decision from the team management was to play Kuldeep ahead of the experienced Jadeja on a wicket which assisted the fast bowlers. Kuldeep hardly troubled the English batsman and was utilized for a mere 9 overs.

Kuldeep Yadav - 0 runs facing 18 balls. Bowled 9 overs for 44 runs and went wicketless.

R Jadeja - 99 runs facing 202 balls. Bowled 77 overs claiming 7 wickets.

#4 - Unable to complete the England tail.

Sam Curran had been a thorn to India with both bat and ball

The England lower order, with exceptional performances from Curran in Birmingham and Southampton and from Chris Woakes at Lord's, bailed them out of danger more than twice in the series. The England lower order scored 642 runs in the 5 tests and faced 1072 balls. India contributed 465 runs in 965 balls. Sam Curran top scored with 272 runs, Woakes 149 runs, Rashid 119 runs and Broad 87 runs. Pandya with 164 runs, Ashwin 126 runs, Jadeja 99 runs were the main contributors for India.

#5 - Hardik Pandya playing ahead of Jadeja at Southampton

Hardik Pandya should have contributed more with the bat

Hardik did a commendable job with the limited opportunities he had with the ball, but his batting failed to bail India out of troubled waters. If Pandya had played his aggressive self, things may have been different for Team India. The management made a huge mistake by not playing Jadeja in the Southampton Test.

H Pandya - In 4 matches scored 164 runs facing 223 balls was at the crease for 349 mins. Took 10 wickets at an avg of 24.70 with a strike rate of 38.5.

S Curran - In 4 matches scored 272 runs facing 436 balls was at the crease for 635 mins. Took 11 wickets at an avg of 23.54 with a strike rate of 42.3.

C Woakes - In 2 matches scored 149 runs facing 185 balls was at the crease for 269 mins. Took 8 wickets at an avg of 20.87 with a strike rate of 43.5.

B Stokes - In 4 matches scored 200 runs facing 519 balls was at the crease for 757 mins. Took 14 wickets at an avg of 29.14 with a strike rate of 49.8.

R Jadeja - In 1 match scored 99 runs facing 202 balls was at the crease for 262 mins. Took 7 wickets at an avg of 36.85 with a strike rate of 66

#6 - Inconsistent display, lack of application and poor shot selection from Indian batsman

Murali Vijay had an extremely poor outing in England

Apart from Kohli, the top scorer of the series, the rest of the Indian batsman failed to deliver their goods. Rahul, Pant and Jadeja's effort in the last test came as a relief, but the eventual loss ruined it for the Indian fans. Pujara would be livid at the way he ran himself out at Lord's and should have been consistent, by his own standards. Vijay, Dhawan, and Karthick would find it hard to keep their place for the Australian tour.

#7 - Ashwin's struggle with injury.

Ashwin's gamble with injury might have cost India dearly

Ashwin did not fare well apart from the Birmingham test. His groin injury, crippled his bowling action as he was unable to impart revolutions on the ball. Jadeja would have been the wiser choice instead of Ashwin, who would have been a live wire in the field. Moeen Ali was able to generate turn by constantly hitting the rough patches on the pitch, something which Ashwin didn't and hence, he wasn't that effective.

Ashwin - In 7 innings claimed 11 wickets at an average of 32.72 and strike rate of 76.1.

Rashid - In 8 innings claimed 10 wickets at an average of 30.90 and strike rate of 52.2.

M Ali - In 4 innings claimed 12 wickets at an average of 21 and strike rate of 38.

#8- No luck with the toss.

The coin never flipped on India's side

India lost all their 5 tosses, but was rescued by the Indian bowlers who restricted England within 300-350 runs more than once. Indian batsman's lack of application coupled with poor shot selections dented their hopes of making a strong impression in the series.