5 lessons for the Indian team from the tour of England

74 days between the first tour match and the last tour match. Both teams had a chance to drub the other and the T20 was as close an affair as possible, although MS ‘Last Over Hero’ Dhoni couldn’t repeat his heroics.Coaches toppled, new ones arrived. There were controversies and pleadings, charges and fines, booing and ovations. The longest Test series the present bunch of Indians have ever played offered lessons galore. It takes a Dhoni to survive three Test series like these (0-4 and 0-4 previously), and come out unscathed as far as popularity standing in India is concerned. Nevertheless, the players would do well to etch these lessons on their locker doors, lest they forget them.

#1 All it takes is a dropped catch

Holding Ravindra Jadeja responsible for the disaster that ensued from Day 1 of the 3rd Test would be a cardinal sin. Nevertheless, the wise will still see the lesson embedded in it.

It doesn’t take much time in cricket for things to turn around. The cricket pendulum is a harsh one, sometimes boomeranging on you when you expect it the least. At the end of the second Test, Indians were on a high, having won on a green top at Lord’s, Englishmen flayed by their media and former cricketers.

First day of Test 3, Alastair Cook is dropped and gets a standing ovation when he returns at lunch, not out. Later in the day, an out of form Ian Bell survives a close LBW call. The fortunes change. Catches get dropped regularly in the Indian slip cordon. Their batsmen start struggling. Their bowlers hardly have anything to defend. It turns into a carnage. By the time, James Anderson and Co. were done with the Indians, they seemed a tired and devastated bunch and the victory at Lord’s seemed an aberration.