4 things we learnt from England's tour of India
India vs. England turned out to be a great collection of matches across all three formats, with India emerging as the winners in each one. England made it a close run thing, but fell at the final hurdle in all three series.
Based on England's tour of India, here are 4 things we learned.
India has a great bench strength
India's talent pool of young players has been the talking point among cricket enthusiasts all over the world. India's bench strength came to the fore on their tour of Australia and they were seen to be at their best against the touring England side.
The likes of Shubman Gill, Washington Sundar, Rishabh Pant and Mohammad Siraj will always be remembered for their role in the great win against the Kangaroos at the Gabba.
It was a similar story against England. India were missing senior players like Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami and Ravindra Jadeja, but the new crop of players stepped up to fill their shoes.
Indian youngsters have the ability to walk into any playing eleven in the world and compete against the best. Even with Prithvi Shaw's lackluster outings on the tour of Australia, he has the talent and ability to stay in the minds of the selectors every time the national team is picked.
With proper grooming and a smooth transition for youngsters, the future of Indian cricket looks to be in safe hands. The team management will have a headache in choosing the best combination for the match, but it is a sweet pain they will be happy to embrace.
Ravichandran Ashwin is getting better with each series
The off spinner from Tamil Nadu recently completed 400 Test wickets for India. He was a critical member of the Test team against both England and Australia. Not only did he get a lot of crucial wickets, he played some useful and match-saving knocks with the bat.
He is making a good case for his return to the limited overs setup as well. If he has a good IPL 2021, it will be hard for selectors to ignore him.
Visiting teams need to adapt to Indian subcontinent conditions the same way touring teams adapt to English or Australian conditions
India is a HARD place to tour! - Nasser Hussain
Teams coming to India have always complained about the turning and dry nature of the pitches that assist spinners. However, they don't shy away from preparing green tracks and bouncy wickets in their home conditions, expecting the subcontinent teams to adapt.
It is high time that they accept that every team is entitled to home advantage. The reason an away win is considered the gold standard is because the touring team fights against the hardest conditions to claim it.
England need to take a deep look at their approach
England's brand of attacking cricket is certainly very attractive but they need to take an honest look at this approach if they want to enhance it further.
There is no question about the level of talent in the camp of the World Champion team.
However, England's over-attacking zeal while batting has led to their downfall in matches where they have been well placed. Their batting approach in the first ODI of the series and countless similar incidents in the T20I series saw them throw away wickets when in good situations.
They need to combine some sensible cricket with aggression. No vehicle can work smoothly while always being in sixth gear. Similarly, a good team needs to judge the situation and play according to the needs of the match.