A clear decline in India’s batting standards

But if you put England’s maverick brand of cricket on the backburner and focus solely on India’s batting, the decline can’t go unnoticed. Starts aren’t being converted, hundreds haven’t been consolidated and big partnerships haven’t been raised enough. In four innings against England, India have crossed 400 once with the highest partnership so far being only 90 between Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer. And though India have more hundreds than England, Gill knows Sunday’s effort was far from his best.

Moreover, it came on a day India failed to bat England out of the game when they had the opportunity. Hyderabad felt like a chance missed when India couldn’t bat once after dismissing England for 236. And now here, when all they had to do was see out James Anderson and then pick apart an inexperienced spin attack, India once again floundered to be dismissed for 255 on a pitch with no demons in it. This when they had three days to ensure Hyderabad’s mistake wasn’t repeated.

The root of this problem seems to be India’s inability to score big at the start. Between 2014 and 2019, India had scored six 600-plus totals in the first and second innings at home. In the last five years, that has gone down to just one. This, like on Sunday, is bound to affect India’s attitude the second time they come out.

Anderson too believes India’s thinking was muddled. “I think the nerves were there to see today, the way they batted; I think they didn’t know how many was enough,” he said after the close of play on Day 3. “They were quite cautious, even when they had a big lead.”