Statistical analysis of India's overseas Test performances in 2018
Right before the start of any overseas cricket tour for India, every Indian cricket fan reaches a new level of excitement, anticipating a good show from their players away from home. If anything, that excitement went several notches higher when we entered into 2018, with 3 important overseas Test tours scheduled for India that year – starting with the SA tour. 8 months down the lane, 2 out of the 3 tours have concluded and India have lost both of them.
For a team which was looking in good shape until then, these twin losses have put in various questions in the minds of the fans as to where and why it went wrong, how can it be solved for the future tours, etc. So, this article would cover all the aspects of the team over both Test tours in 2018 (South Africa and England), analyze where and why we probably fared badly in that department and then look into possible solutions for those problems.
Another struggle for openers
Clearly, India haven't found a solution to their opening pair conundrum with all 3 openers not being at their best, Dhawan in particular. Either he barely survives the first hour or he throws his wicket away after getting a start. It is time to go past Dhawan and look for more stability at the top in the form of either Murali Vijay or giving chances to some youngsters like Mayank Agarwal or Prithvi Shaw. Murali Vijay has also had his struggles with the swinging deliveries in recent times, especially against Anderson, but not as vulnerable as Dhawan though. But, I personally felt that he wasn’t given enough chances in the England series and hence deserves a few more opportunities in the future to redeem himself.
KL Rahul had some issues with his technique during the SA tour and in the initial part of the England tour. But towards the end of the England series, he started getting into his groove with a couple of 30s and that blistering 149. This might just be an indication that he is starting to look more at ease now in overseas conditions and that he deserves more chances in Test cricket. Who knows, he might just become the attacking opener we were looking for all this while.