5 reasons why India are struggling to win overseas Test series

England v India: Specsavers 5th Test - Day Two — What's wrong with the Indian Test team?

Before the start of the year, the Indian team were the favourites to win the Test series in both South Africa and England. But, Virat Kohli and his men suffered a 2-1 series loss in the Rainbow nation earlier this year and in the recently-concluded Test series in England, they lost the series 4-1.

Though the scoreline reads 2-1 and 4-1, it does not tell a story on how well the Indian team has fought in both the tours. They gave the hosts a run for their money and when things were in control, they let it slip out of their own hands and ended up on the losing side on almost every single instance barring the Lord's Test where they were completely outplayed by England.

Let us take a look at five reasons why India are failing to win overseas Test series in spite of dominating the opposition in every single game.

Inability to wrap up the tail

England v India: Specsavers 5th Test - Day Four — Sam Curran, the batsman, was frustrating for the Indians throughout the series

This has been the Indian team's Achilles heel in the recent past as they are still searching for an overseas series win. Without a second thought, the Indian team is having a lethal bowling unit that has the ability to take 20 wickets in a Test, something that the Indian teams in the past didn't have. But, the bowlers should be more consistent than they are if the team wants to win matches abroad on a consistent basis.

The bowling unit has enough in their tank to dismiss the top-order and the middle-order batsmen in quick-time and that is when they are letting the game drift away from them. Right from the Brisbane Test in 2014 to the Galle Test in 2015, India have suffered because of this.

The problem is yet to be rectified as Kohli and his men let the tail wag for far too long on so many occasions in the tour of South Africa and England in 2018 and paid the price for it. The likes of Keshav Maharaj, Vernon Philander, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Adil Rashid etc. have been the thorn in India's flesh down the order in the last one year.

The bowlers should have plans in place for the lower-order batsmen and should look to dismiss them cheaply and restrict the opposition to a lesser score.