Gains and loss for England after the Indian series. England came to India on the back of a wonderful series win in Sri Lanka. Infact, they have now won 5 consecutive tests in Sri Lanka. This is an incredible achievement. Except India, I do not think that any other team has achieved such success in Sri Lanka. It is truly a wonderful achievement. The icing on the cake was ofcourse the form shown by Joe Root and James Anderson. Leach and Best were performing well as well. The English were quite confident when they set foot on Indian soil.
India vs England history
History has it that over the last 20 years, India have struggled against England. Ofcourse, except in 2012, India have mostly won the series but it never was convincing save for one series in 2016. Nasser Hussain came with the mindset of not losing all the tests and went back with losing just one. Flintoff even managed to draw a series and Alastair Cook won in 2012. India on the otherhand have lost the last 3 series in England. Infact, India were annihilated in each of that series. 4-0, 3-1, 4-1.
England high on confidence
After Sri Lanka, seeing England with confidence, the Indian team must have been jittery if not outright scared. England went onto win the first test by a large margin and it must have surely dented Indian confidence but for some reason, England lost the plot from the first day of the 2nd test and they never recovered. Infact, most of the batsmen, including Root, seemed uninterested and were rather happy to complete the game quickly evenif that meant losing.
Former England players have rightly criticised the England team for showing absolutely no fight after the first test. Some of them have blamed the rotation policy that the ECB have devised for the players. Yes, I do agree that the players must be rotated not just because of the overload but also because of the bio bubble. However, the manner it was done did leave a lot of questions unanswered. Why would you rest your best players against a top team? Why would you rest them when the series was still on the line? What is the reason to rest them when a slot in WTC finals is at stake?
Some inexplicable decisions
ECB must have left the team management to take a decision regarding individual players. Ideally, England’s best players must have played the first three tests and depending on how the series has progressed, some of them could have been rested of the final one. England’s obsession about Jofra Archer’s pace must stop. He is someone who has his own mind. In that, he will bowl quick only when he thinks he must. Otherwise, he is not quicker than a fast medium bowler. England must have allowed Anderson, Buttler & Bairstow to play the two tests in Sri Lanka and the first three in India. Moeen Ali, who has always performed well against India got just one game. All of these points to the fact that though the ECB had the best intention to protect the players from mental agony, they went about it in the wrong way.
Gains for England
The form of Joe Root and the evergreen bowling of Anderson are the major gains for England from the Asian leg. Root who has struggled to score for a major part of his captaincy, finally seems to have found his enthusiasm back. He has scored 4 double hundreds over the last 18 months. Anderson is nearing 40 and the way he bowled in Sri Lanka and India, it looks like he is not in a hurry to become a spent force. India will have their hands full when they tour England. At this rate, Anderson will likely become the first bowler who is not a spinner to get to 700 wickets. It may never be surpassed like Sir Don Bradman’s career average.
Jack Leach is another English player who looks promising. The question remains whether England will support him and allow him to grow into a fine international level spinner. Off late, England have this tendency of expecting runs from their bowlers. That will probably limit Leach’s chance because he certainly cannot score.
Loss for England
There were so many of them. The inability of the openers to safely negotiate 15-20 overs. The lack of bite of the bowling of Dom Bess. Except for Root, no other batsman looked even remotely interested to bat. Broad and Archer’s lack of hostility. Above all, the resignation after the end of the first innings in the second test. This was the biggest loss for England. A non-performing player can suddenly start to perform if he spends enough time at the wicket or enough time to bowl but it is difficult for an entire team to motivate themselves if they have lost the plot mentally.
This is where India ran roughshod over England in that they sensed a deep anxiety on the part of the England batsmen and exploited that.
What does the future hold?
Now England will be back in their familiar environs and they have a couple of test against New Zealand followed by a full series against India followed by the most important, The Ashes. The batsmen may probably hold themselves against New Zealand and India if the wickets aren’t seam friendly. In Australia however, they need their batsmen to be able to post huge scores if they entertain any hopes of a win.