5 reasons why teams are failing to win overseas Test series

Team Combination

Team balance makes a vital component in any sport. An assessment of a team's strengths which includes different skills, combinations, teams character and experience is a fair indicator of a team's capabilities in alien conditions. The West Indies of the 70's and 80's and the Australians if the late 90's and 2000's thrived in all conditions because of a settled team with a core group of 7-8 match winners who never failed to deliver.

How can one stake a claim that we have an ideal team combination on paper?

It is usually accepted to go with 6 batsmen, a wicketkeeper followed by 4 bowlers. But the team that is able to unearth either a batting all-rounder or a bowling all-rounder is the team that has a higher chance to succeed. We remember the South African teams of 1990's where they had batsmen who could bowl and bowlers who could bat. Jacques Kallis, Shaun Pollock, Hansie Cronje and Lance Klusener had to quality to battle it out in all conditions.

West Indies of the old followed a slightly different path. They built their team around 6 world class batsmen followed by 4 fearsome bowlers who would intimidate the opposition in all conditions. Australians had 4 wicket taking bowlers followed by a plethora of batting match-winners in their side.

The current Indian team is arguably the only team which has a group of promising fast bowlers, world-class spinners, an emerging all-rounder and batsmen who can dominate. They are led by a captain who's extremely aggressive and likes to take the bull by its horns. They are next to invincible in their home conditions, But still, they have not been able to solve the jigsaw puzzle of team combination to replicate the overseas success of a West Indies or an Australia.