Openers set up 2007 win, failed in next three series
MUMBAI: In head coach Ravi Shastri’s opinion, the current India team, which conceded another away series in England with a match to go, has performed better than previous teams away from home in the last 15-20 years.
However, India’s best performance in England after the turn of the century came 11 years ago in 2007 when under the leadership of Rahul Dravid, the team clinched a three-match Test series 1-0.
Since then, India’s performance in England has been abysmal, losing three consecutive series with scorelines of 4-0 (2011), 3-1 (2014) and 3-1 (2018, the final Test is underway). Though a number of reasons have contributed to India’s failure on these three tours, one common factor has been the absence of solid opening stand throughout these years.
During the 2011 tour, India’s opening pair together could muster only 156 runs from four matches at a dismal average of 19.5. In 2014, the opening combinations accounted for 219 runs with an equally poor average of 21.9. In the ongoing series too, India’s opening woes have continued as going into the final innings of the series, Indian openers have scored only 236 runs together in nine innings with an average of 26.22.
In sharp contrast, India’s openers performed admirably during the 2007 series, accumulating 322 runs in four Tests with a healthy average of 53.66. The opening pair of Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik had put on 147 (which remains the only century partnership India openers have had in England in the last 11 years), in the first innings of the second Test at Nottingham that proved instrumental in securing a sevenwicket win in the end.
OVERALL PICTURE
India, though, are not the only tourists whose openers have struggled to put on a decent partnership in England.
In the period India have lost three series in England, the visiting openers from all countries have together put on 3,029 runs from 52 matches at an average of 30.59. England’s openers, themselves, have fared only a shade better, scoring 2,975 runs from these games at an average of 32.33.