Four lessons from the England series the Indian team must carry forward to replicate the 2011 World Cup success
India travelled to England with the intention of sorting out their problems. On the contrary, they ended the series with even more.
India was completely outplayed by the Englishmen in the last two ODI's. It was probably a perfect reality check at a perfect time for a team which hadn't lost a 50-over bilateral series under fully fledged captain Kohli.
What this series also does is stamps England's authority in limited overs cricket and presents them as the prime contender for the World Cup next year.
During England limited overs series (also in T20's), it was evident that the top order was doing the bulk of the scoring and Kuldeep Yadav was taking all the wickets and causing great trouble to the Englishmen.
If we talk about the batting, the middle order didn't even score at run a ball. They constantly struggled against the English spinners and never really got going. Regarding bowling, no one apart from Kuldeep even looked like picking up a wicket.
Even Chahal who was Yadav's partner in crime against the South Africans failed to make an impact or support his counterpart. The seamers were way before par. Overall apart from Kuldeep, Indian bowling looked fairly thin.
In the post-match presentation at Headingley even captain, Kohli admitted that his team has "quite a few" questions to address before the World Cup next year. With just around 25 matches left before the world cup, India certainly needs to address their issues sooner rather than later if they want to be in action at Lords on 14'th July next year.
#1 Middle order muddle
India is too heavily dependent on their top three. If none of the top three makes runs, the team struggles to win matches.
No middle-order batsman has been able to complement the top order or play an impactful innings. If this trend continues, India will have hard times in the WC.
The team management needs to find a suitable No. 4 who can build the innings in case of early damage as well as finish the good work done by the top order. Probably Rahul is best suited at that No. 4, but he has to be given more opportunities.