England vs India 2018: 5 things that went wrong for India in the ODI series
Joe Root's back-to-back tons set up England's emphatic eight-wicket victory over India to give them the three-match One-Day International series 2-1 at Headingley, Leeds. The game was set up by the English bowlers who showcased their skills as a disciplined bowling attack for the second game in a row to keep India in check.
In the chase, Jonny Bairstow gave them a headstart with a cameo before Root combined with skipper Eoin Morgan to shut the door on India with their unbeaten 186-run stand. It was the manner in which both the batsmen were untroubled throughout their innings that hallmarked their remarkable comeback in the series after an embarrassing loss in the first ODI at Trent Bridge.
And it was Adil Rashid who was the pick of the bowlers for the hosts as he outbowled the two Indian tweakers comprehensively. Not only did the Indian spinners manage less spin from the surface, there was never enough pressure built on the batsmen to force them to commit a mistake.
So what went wrong for India after a convincing victory in the first game? Did they get complacent? Did they fail to read conditions and were eventually beaten by a better team? Or was it a case of known issues cropping up once again, leaving the team in troubled waters under pressure. Let's take a look.
#1 Lack of penetration with the new ball
In all the three ODIs against England, the Indian new-ball bowlers sprayed the ball around and gave the hosts a number of boundary balls to be dismissed to the fence. 71/0, 69/0 and 78/2 were what they achieved in the first Power Play and it almost always pushed India on the back foot.
Yes, they missed the service of Jasprit Bumrah with the new ball who has been instrumental in India's success as a limited-overs side but it was a timely reminder to the management to ensure there are enough replacements and backups ready, in case of such freak injuries going into the 2019 World Cup.
The likes of Umesh Yadav, Siddarth Kaul, Shardul Thakur failed to exercise enough control and even Bhuvneshwar Kumar who didn't look fit enough to play the final ODI showed signs of rustiness. For a side which prides itself on fitness standards based on the yo-yo test, the fitness which was reflected in the fielding was appaling, to say the least.