Things India needs to do to become good travellers

With the England series done and dusted and England finishing on the winning side, I feel there are some major takeaways. According to me, India didn't play as bad as the scoreline suggests. They had their moments in all the Tests except the second one where they were completely outplayed.

For India, there were some positives to take from the tour. Indian pacers were relentless. They bowled their heart out. Top order batting failed for both the teams. Virat Kohli was the only one who performed consistently with the bat with the exception of the last innings of the last Test where he went for a duck.

He scored 593 runs in the series and was the top scorer by some margin. India had a lone warrior with the bat and had he got some support from the rest of the team, India would have won the series.

In earlier days, batting used to be India's strength and struggle was seen in the bowling department when they had to pick 20 wickets. But of late, the Indian bowlers have started knocking off 20 wickets consistently and the batting has suffered. It lacks the confidence to even chase 200 in the fourth innings. This was seen in the first and the fourth Test.

Now if the Indian team has to become good travellers overseas, it needs to change a few things. Let us take a concise look at them.

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1) India needs to play with 6 batsmen on overseas tours

Playing an allrounder like Hardik, who isn't a very lethal bowler and nor a very strong batsman, is not a good idea. Although Pandya did show resilience with the bat on some occasions and also took his maiden five-wicket haul, I still feel India should strengthen their batting by playing an extra batsman and go with three pacers and a spinner at least for overseas matches.

If you look at the difference between the two sides it has been the runs scored by the English lower order. On most occasions, India were able to take the wickets of the English top order but England's lower order took them to decent totals.

2) Look for new opening combinations

India need to look beyond Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay as openers. They are already in their thirties and trying some young blood will only benefit India in the future. I think in the upcoming test series against West Indies, India should try some new players. Mayank Aggarwal, who has been scoring runs consistently, could be given a chance or even Prithvi Shaw could be tried. India should look to have a strong opening pair before the Australian tour kicks off.

3) Have a core group of players

Under Virat Kohli's captaincy for the first 37 matches, India didn't play the same squad. Changing players frequently makes the players insecure about their position in the side and it affects their natural game.

They no longer play with that full freedom which is then seen in their performance on the field. Rahane being dropped in South Africa, Pujara getting dropped for the first Test are only some instances to back this.

India needs to have a core group of players like MS Dhoni and Sourav Ganguly had. Giving an extended run gives the player the confidence and it helps the team ultimately. Dropping a player after one bad performance is not good. Kohli should identify such core players if he wants the squad to perform well overseas.

4) Improvement in lower-order batting

The series result would have been very different had the Indian lower order contributed the same way the England lower order did. Jos Buttler and Sam Curran were one of the highest scorers for England in this series.

Woakes played a blinder in the second Test where he scored 137. On the other hand, Indian lower order struggled throughout the series. Last 3-4 wickets were walking wickets.

In the last match, there was some resistance shown by the lower order with Hanuma Vihari and Ravindra Jadeja scoring fifties and taking India closer to England's first innings score. Indian lower order needs similar performances on a consistent basis from the lower order if they want to be good travelers.