Tendulkar calls for the Indian team to "respect the conditions"
Former Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar has spoken on how the conditions presented to the Indians in England will play a huge role in the eventual outcome of the much-awaited series. He also stressed upon the need to assess the environs well before the Indian side go on about executing their strategies to counter the English side as well prior to deploying their personal skill sets.
Speaking of things the visitors will have to shift to the top of their priority lists, he said, "The first basic rule: Respect conditions. It's the key. The first morning of the series, that first over, the first spell - that's always the key. It was the same in South Africa, it'll be the same in England."
The very beginning of the series often being decisive is something Tendulkar only knows too well. On his last tour to England in 2011, India were highly rated as the ICC #1 ranked side and were touted to triumph like they did in 2007. But when Zaheer Khan hobbled off the field on the opening day of the series, it set the tone of forthcoming inadequacies and struggles for the Indians, who went on to lose 4-0.
That was not the last time India failed to get going in England, in 2014, they squandered a 1-0 lead to be overwhelmed by the hosts to end the series with the score line 1-3. Touching upon the potential mental scars from their last trip, he said, "Drawing a balance between knowing that the disaster of 2014 has to be kept in mind and yet keeping in mind that it doesn't really matter right now is what the players need to understand.
"It helps to remember how an earlier experience of the same tour was unpleasant. Yet, what's also important to remember is that change is the only constant."
Virat Kohli's side, who are currently grappling with injuries to some of their key personnel have the ideal chance to prove that they are indeed better than every other side in the world right now, and the only way to go about it is to win overseas in an era of sides struggling to do well in alien conditions.
However, given the English heat wave this summer, the setup won't be exactly unfamiliar to Kohli's men, without swing in the air and greater grip and turn from the drier pitches, this is certainly their best shot to do well in a country where they have failed to notch notable success for more than a decade now.