England v India 2014: 5 reasons why India have been woeful

Embarrassed, humiliated, dismal, abysmal, horrible -some of the words to describe the performance of the Indian teamwhose confidence wassky high after the fabulous winat Lords, where they gave the home team a taste of their own medicine.Let's take a look at the 5 key points on why India haven't been able to build on the famous Lords win. Will they survive at the Oval, or will England go on to complete their third successive Test series win against India?

#1 Ishant Sharma\'s Injury

This, without an iota of doubt, was a hammer blow. The 25-year-old bowled magnificently in the second Test, constantly peppering the English batsmen with the short ball, to bring his team back into the match and eventually win it, as well.

Subject to a lot of criticism prior to India kicking off on a series of overseas tours for his inconsistent performances, despite being given an unusually extended rope by the team management and the national selectors,  the lanky pacer from Delhi silenced all his naysayers by ending the New Zealand series as the highest wicket-taker: 15 wickets.

He also had his moments in the South African tour preceding the Kiwi series, picking up 4 wickets – the likes of Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis included –  in the first innings of the first Test, at Johannesburg, to put his team in the driver’s seat, which they were unable to capitalise on.