8 mistakes by Team India and the management that led to their downfall against England
In this article, we take a brief look at the primary reasons that might have contributed to the poor showing of the Indian team in England. India did show a spirited display throughout the series, though the lack of application from the Indian batsman to withstand the conditions in England let India down.
An excellent partnership from KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant at Oval raised expectations in the Indian dressing room before Rashid produced a brilliant delivery to dislodge Rahul followed by a loose shot from Pant ended India's hopes.
#1 Lack of Test match practice
India played England after the IPL in a bilateral series consisting of 5 Tests, 5 ODI's and 2T20's. Their previous test match was on 27th Jan 2018 in South Africa. The test against Afghanistan on June 14th would not qualify as a preparation for the England series. India had a 4-day warm-up match ahead of the first test against Essex, who are currently fifth in Division one of the County Championship. The Indian team management felt it would be better off to play against quality opposition and reduced the game to 3 days.
India - 395 & 89/2 drew Essex - 359/8 dec. Vijay, Kohli, Karthik, Pandya, and Rahul scored half-centuries, while Dhawan collected a pair. Yadav collected 4 wickets and Sharma got 3.
County Performance
Vijay 2 innings for Essex scoring 129 runs with a best of 73*.
Pujara 12 innings for Yorkshire scoring 172 runs with a best of 41.