Timid tourists must solve identity crisis to put India under pressure

England do not know what style of game to play, but only a bolder approach will keep them in this series

England are close to becoming a fantastic Test team but they have to solve their identity crisis first. Just imagine if you could put Kevin Pietersen at four and pick Graeme Swann as spinner. What a team England would be then.

But they would still have the same problem. At the moment they do not know what style of cricket they want to play.

They want to be a confident and aggressive team but in this match have been timid with tactics. In India you have to seize the moment and recognise when you have an opportunity to take control.

On the first evening they missed a great chance to bowl five overs with the second new ball. The lights were on, the ball was swinging and it was a tough time to bat. England had just dismissed Ajinkya Rahane and out walked India’s No 6 Ravichandran Ashwin.

Two balls into his innings he edged a ball through third man for four because England had only two slips. Why were they not attacking with three slips?

If they had gone off that night with India 315 for six, who knows, this game could have swung in their favour. An aggressive and confident team who have James Anderson bowling with the second new ball should have three slips and a gully in place for five overs. So what if India hit a few fours and put on 20 or so runs? England could have taken another wicket. What were they scared of?

The following morning the ball was still new but, after only two overs, they had just one slip for Ashwin and a third man in place. It is the kind of field you would set to Sachin Tendulkar. Ashwin is playing nicely but you do not give him that much respect.

The bowlers have to take responsibility. Too often the two senior men, Anderson and Stuart Broad, go into their shells and defend too quickly. Out here the spinners are not Swann and Monty Panesar. On the last tour the seamers could just concentrate on holding an end because Swann and Panesar were capable of bowling India out on their own.

But this time the seamers are England’s most potent weapon so they have to gamble and attack more with the new ball.

Ultimately the batting will dig England out of trouble. But the worry is that on three spinning wickets here in India, and the two in Bangladesh, they have failed to score a century. On the one that did not spin, in Rajkot last week, they managed four.

Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow gave the rest a lesson on how to play in India. It has to rub off on the others so they play the same way on a more consistent basis.

It started on the second evening of the match when both were 12 not out overnight. Stokes made his 12 off 49 balls, Bairstow 44. It was completely different to what we expect from those two. But they have realised that in these conditions you cannot simply rely on playing in your natural manner.

Stokes has proved you can become a high-class top-order player if you are willing to work on your technique. He is playing the spinning ball later and with softer hands. He is committed to his strokes. Probably more so in defence than when attacking. He did not once dance down the pitch and try to launch the ball down the ground. He played the odd hard sweep or cut well through the off side when he picked up length early. Apart from that he played a defensive innings. Within a year his batting has grown immeasurably.

The same for Bairstow. Not many aggressive players last long in Indian conditions. Stokes and Bairstow have realised this.

In India you have to seize the moment and recognise when you have an opportunity to take control

Joe Root made the mistake of getting out of his bubble with his firstinnings dismissal. Charging down the pitch and trying to smack the ball over mid-off is not a shot I see him play. With his standing in the team, he does not need to take those risks. He is playing too well. He is scoring freely, keeping out the good balls, has scoring options front and back foot and is reading the India bowlers. It was a needless dismissal and England lost their way because of the firstinnings collapse.

All the worries and concerns we had before this series came home in the first three days of this Test. The spinners did not deliver under pressure on day one. The batsmen were not able to occupy the crease long enough and individuals did not produce the three figure scores with the bat when required. Yes, India won a crucial toss and that has helped shape the game enormously.

We knew that would be a vital element and if England win it next week in Mohali they can revert to their Rajkot performance and put pressure on India, but only if they are bolder with their tactics.