6 questions Indian fans need to ask Ravi Shastri 

#5 Why are the big claims falling short?

On the eve of the final test, Ravi Shastri declared his team to the "best travelling Indian team in the last 15-20 years", a comment which earned Shastri some rightful backlash. From 2002 to 2010, India drew a series in England, South Africa, and Australia. Let's not forget the historic series win in both England and New Zealand. The defeat at Oval only highlighted how wrong his comments were.

A series loss for 4-1 on paper is worse than the team's performance last time around. More or less the same group of players lost 3-1 under the leadership of MS Dhoni four years ago. The words of the coach now are of "team heading in the right direction".

Most fans will remember hearing the same words after the Australia series in 2014. At that time with a young squad, not many felt the need to disagree. However now, one is left wondering whether the talks of "progress" are an illusion?

Yes, the team gave a great fight. Yes, this series was more competitive than India's last two trips to England. However, the scoreline speaks for itself and it does not make pretty reading for Virat Kohli's side. Ultimately the results are what matter.

Let us not forget this is an English team that is coming off a humiliation in the Ashes, only a few months ago. Over the last three years, Pakistan has won three of their six test matches in England. Even West Indies won a test in England last year. Is it too much to expect the No. 1 Test side in the world to do better than them?

Even if there is progress, it will only do any good if the team learns from its mistakes and improve on their weaknesses. The current regime has shown no sign of doing so. The constant selection of Shikhar Dhawan in overseas tests despite repeated failures in SENA countries is one of many examples of the decision makers learning nothing from their errors.