SIDHARTH GULATI

After India sealed the series against Sri Lanka in Colombo, Virat Kohli – yet to lose a series as a full-time Test captain – expressed the team is no longer bothered about playing at home or away and have their focus only on winning.

Surely, eight consecutive series victories in two years backs his statement.

But since the 2014-15 BorderGavaskar Trophy Down Under, India have played Tests mostly at home, except the Sri Lanka tour in 2015, West Indies series in 2016 and the ongoing three-Test series against Dinesh Chandimal’s men.

After this, the BCCI will go on to host Australia and New Zealand for a limited-overs series and Sri Lanka (again) for a full-fledged series before the team departs for South Africa for four Tests, five ODIs and three T20Is, slated to start in January 2018.

Later that year, Kohli’s men will face the England and Australia challenge away. Months before the 2019 World Cup, they’ll travel to New Zealand, where they failed to win a single match last time around in 2013.

For a moment, if the home series against Sri Lanka is taken into consideration, “tiring sameness” seem to be the only two words that are likely to cross one’s mind.

Same was the case in 2011. Shortly after the Indian Premier League (IPL), India toured the Caribbean for three Tests, five ODIs and a one-off T20I.

In a space of four months, Darren Sammy’s side arrived in India for a full-series. Now here, the Future Tours Programme (FTP) seems to be a “disaster” because it