3 players who are likely to be axed for the Australia series
India losing the second away tour of this year doesn't augur well for their chances in Australia later this year. With scorelines of 1-3 and 1-4 things seem to be getting from bad to worse for the Indian team. Smith and Warner's absence provides India with a rare chance to create history down under.
The margin of error is ever so little on away tours and India learned it the hard way against England. As good a player Kohli is, his alliance with Shastri on team selection wasn't a successful venture. This led to consistently unappealing performances from a few players and India would be better off without them in the Australian tour.
#3 Shikhar Dhawan
At the start of the tour, Dhawan couldn't put up with the outswingers and later on, he transformed into an LBW candidate. The fluency one associates with Dhawan in white-ball cricket was found wanting red-ball cricket. Perhaps he should have broken free the way Rahul did in the fifth Test.
Hindsight is not going to help him now though as the series is done and dusted. Dhawan's century against Afghanistan earned him a starting XI spot in the England series though historically he was always found troubled in swinging conditions. The gamble didn't pay off and the swashbuckling opener returned with 162 runs in eight innings at an ignorable average of 20.25.
The Indian management has been accused of not having faith and giving Dhawan an extended run. They called their bluff this time around and Dhawan stood exposed.