Australia vs India 2018-19: 3 reasons why India could lose the Test series

#2 Slip catching

Indians have been among the worst fielders in the slip cordon in the last few years in international cricket. It can be easily said that the safest place to hit the ball is to the right of the Indian wicket-keeper.

Slip fielding is one of the most important aspects of the game when playing on Australian pitches. The extra bounce means that the ball will carry to the slip fielders more often than not, and they have to be alert in grabbing the chances whenever they come.

Ajinkya Rahane is one of the safest slip fielders to spinners but does not prefer standing at that position to fast bowlers. India have tried various men at that particular position when seamers are operating, but all of them have shown butter fingers and dropped dollies.

In that past, India have let many slip opportunities go by, and this has resulted in the survivors scoring big hundreds and taking the game away.

#1 Lower-order partnerships

If it is not the top-order, it is the wagging tail that has caused India nightmares. India have developed an uncanny knack of allowing the lower order to undo all the damage caused by wreaking havoc at the top.

In the recently-concluded England series, it was Sam Curran who scored crucial runs after India had got rid of the top six. The lower order partnerships had a big impact on the scoreline of the series which read 4-1 in England.

In the warm-up game against the CA XI, the last four wickets added as many as a whopping 310 runs!

Lower-order partnerships have been a big problem for quite some time now, and all the Australian bowlers viz. Cummins, Starc, Lyon and Hazlewood are handy contributors down the order and are perfectly capable of prolonging India's plight.