Kolkata: India's overall record remains poor despite the excitement from the recently drawn tour of England. India's performance in their four tours to England since 2011 has been slightly inferior to that of Australia during the same period, with 5 wins and 11 losses in 21 matches. They have only won 4 out of 19 Test matches, losing 13.

India's victories in 2018-19 and 2020-21 suggest that Australia is less intimidating than England, but series scores provide a better context. This is oddly due to the fact that both tours included draws in Sydney (5 overall, as opposed to 2 in England). India has not shown any such fortitude against England.

This is why the other matches have ended in significant losses—0-4 in 2011, 1-3 in 2014, and 1-4 in 2018—when you exclude the 2-2 tie from the 2021–22 tour.

As a travel destination, England is not as formidable as Australia or South Africa. Even more puzzling is the stark difference in performance of a team that appeared to be on a roll in Australia and nearly won a series in South Africa, where both bounce and seam can be unpleasant.

India has also been playing five-Test series in England for their last three tours, allowing them plenty of opportunity to acclimatize to the conditions, no matter how bad, and with the benefit of very little travel. The Dukes ball, with its pronounced hand-stitched seam and generous seam movement, is fairly similar to the SG balls that are commonly used in India. Nevertheless, the findings have been far from reassuring. Why?

Anxious beginnings to extended trips

India has a poor record in the first Tests in England since 2011, with two defeats and two draws. The most recent draw was in 2021, when rain canceled the fifth day's play at Nottingham.

Aside from generating a winning momentum, hitting the ground running, among other things, puts the opposition on notice. Strangely for India, their performance in Australia is far better; they won in 2018 and 2024 while losing in 2011, 2014, and 2020. Even South Africa has seen improved outcomes, with defeats in 2010, 2018, and 2023; a tie in 2013; and a victory in 2021, of all places, in Centurion.

Regardless of history, a team starts over every tour. However, India still had the familiarity of Lord's as the first stop for two (2011 and 2018) of the four trips since 2011, despite England. In both instances, India was defeated badly.

It seems like a smart move for England to switch the opening Test to Leeds, where they have won six of their last seven matches. What better way for psychology to outplay the visitors than to set them on a surface where they know the ball can zip around all day?

Fragile batting support

In addition to a good amount of luck, you need good skills to navigate that nasty combination of overhead conditions and a ball that can behave unpredictably. Cheteshwar Pujara was consistently defensively sound, but he sometimes struggled to facilitate rapid turnarounds.

In 2018, Virat Kohli dominated a space like this, scoring 593 runs at an average of 59.3 and defeating England 4-1 despite overcoming his off-side fears. Kohli almost took the game away from the bowlers in one such series. Reason? Throughout the whole series, no other batsman was able to average more than 40 against the swinging ball.

With a century and a half, Pujara fell just short at 39.71. However, in the context of a five-match series, a team's second best performer being so far below par is unacceptable. With the top five accounting for an average of 36.13 in Australia and 30.99 in England during the same period, it has also reflected negatively on India's overall returns.

Kohli scored seven hundreds in Australia, making him a runaway success. Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, however, were also productive, as they scored three and two centuries, respectively. However, in England, James Anderson and Stuart Broad's opening bowling partnership utterly defeated them. In 2018, Kohli, KL Rahul, and Rishabh Pant all shone briefly, scoring two centuries apiece. However, there were just too few and too far between the peaks.

Little faith in spinners

India's decision to disregard their spin bowlers every time an England tour loomed has been even more astonishing. Throughout his career, Ravichandran Ashwin has played in just seven Tests during three trips to England, bowling just over 200 overs in 11 innings and achieving a commendable average of 28.11 and a strike rate of 66.7. Ravindra Jadeja was frequently the only spinner in the lineup, and on many of the dead wickets where the ball neither gripped nor turned, he was frankly squandered. As a result of their efforts to strengthen their batting lineup, India gave up a lot of bowling advantage.

Half of that renowned spin bowling partnership is left following Ashwin's abrupt retirement in Australia. With Kohli no longer playing Tests, the batting order has also undergone a considerable change. The majority of the current lineup has never played in England. Change is the name of the game, but India may have a hard time succeeding in England unless they learn from their strategic errors made during previous tours.

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