4 reasons why the current Indian team is repeatedly failing in major overseas Test series
‘Not again’ was the reaction of Indian cricket team fans at the end of the fourth Test against England. They came very close in both of their Test series against England and South Africa.
"The conditions will be testing, but like I have said before, this one and half years will define this Indian cricket team and the whole team is aware of that" - Ravi Shastri, the Coach of the Indian cricket team, before the start of the South Africa tour
‘So near, yet so far’ is the case of this current Indian Test team. They had the World’s no.1 Test batsman, variation in their bowling attack, few Test only specialists and a rising all-rounder in their tank. Nevertheless, they once again stumbled in their mission to conquer the world.
Let us look at four reasons behind their failures in the recent Test series against England and South Africa.
#4 Inability to seize the momentum
Barring the second Test against England at Lord’s, India fought toe-to-toe with the hosts in the rest of the matches. They had their moments and stayed on the top for the majority of the sessions. They had one foot in their opponent’s throat. Instead of going for the kill, they somehow strangely lost their hold and gave their opponents a slim chance of a comeback. Sam Curran’s knock in the first and fourth games are perfect examples.
Even in South Africa, they had their fair share of moments. However, they failed to crush their opponents and seize the momentum completely. Had India handled those moments correctly, then the outcome of these series would have been entirely different.