3 takeaways for Team India from the recently concluded England-Pakistan Test series

Avoid Horizontal bat shots early on in the Innings

On pitches, where the ball moves both ways predominantly, playing horizontal bat shots early in the innings would be a big mistake. The Indian top order struggled in South Africa mostly due to horizontal bat shorts against the South African seamers early on in their innings.

In the last tour of England in 2014, the Indian batsmen fell prey to the 4th stump line and were dismissed behind the wicket majority of the times. The batsmen went after the swinging ball and ended up edging the ball to the wicket-keeper and slips. Apart from Ajinkya Rahane and Murali Vijay, every other batsman struggled to negotiate the swing bowling of James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes.

The Indian batsmen need to be mindful of this and would look to spend more time at the crease. The 1st session is always crucial and if Indians are batting first, the batsmen would need to leave a lot of deliveries outside the off stump and avoid playing the horizontal shots.

Shikhar Dhawan in particular, who had a forgettable last tour of England would need to be aware and be prepared to counter the duo of James Anderson and Stuart Broad, who would bowl to the 4th stump line outside the off stump.

Batting in England gets easy from the second session, hence it would be crucial for the Indian batsmen to occupy the crease and negotiate the early storm. Once the batsmen are set, run-scoring becomes easy and if the likes of Dhawan, Vijay, Pujara, Kohli and Rahane get going team India can put up a massive score on the board.