Day 55: England need to improve quickly

 After the loss that England suffered in the second Test, it was always vital for them to come back strong in the third. With a day-night Test, the game currently underway should have been the game to show some fight and put India on the back foot with one match left after this one.

It didn’t work out that way. When you look into why things have gone wrong since the comprehensive win in the first Test, there are many reasons.

You could look at the conditions of the pitch in that second Test. Or is it more a fundamental inability of England’s batsmen to play spin. The first of those reasons is as good an excuse as any. It wasn’t the best pitch, but in the end, England were outplayed.

It would be an easy argument to say that the way the English season is set up doesn’t allow English players to develop against spin.  There is more than one way to help these players bat against spin. Better game management is vital, knowing when to play a particular shot, which line to play down. Match practice is one way to do that; does that have to be in county championship matches? England needs to expose their players to as many conditions as possible. More Lion’s tours to Asian countries would be a good start.

While England’s rotation policy is admirable to ensure that players mental health and general burnout doesn’t happen in a busy year, there appears at times muddled thinking. The way the ECB handled the Moeen Ali situation showed this. I do believe Joe Root misspoke, but it wasn’t a good look.

Generally, a settled dressing room performs better. While this was always going to be a difficult series, England teams have, for the most part, struggled in India and those that have triumphed had good plans with players knowing their roles.

It is, of course, only one day into this Test, and things can change quickly. England will have to bowl very well in the morning to ensure that when they bat again, India aren’t too far ahead.

Zak Crawley was the only batsman to come out of the first innings with any credit. You would expect Dom Sibley and Jonny Bairstow to make more of an impact in the second innings. They, of course, aren’t the only ones. Joe Root can’t be expected to score the runs every time. It is time for some players to prove that they are good players in all conditions.