England vs India 2018: 4 Reasons why India lost the Test series vs England

#2 Lower middle order troubles

The lack of resilience from India's lower middle order batsmen was one of the reasons for India's series defeat

In Edgbaston, India had England right on the mat at 87-7 in the 2nd innings. But the Indians failed to seize the momentum and allowed Sam Curran to run amok with his late blitz of 63. It proved too costly for India as the target of 194 was too much to chase in the final innings.

In Lord's, England was under pressure at 89-4. from India's 1st innings total. But yet again, the Indian bowlers failed to capitalize on their impressive start as Chris Woakes took them to the cleaners with his terrific innings of 137 after coming in to bat at 131-5.

Woakes' innings helped England stretch their total to 396, a lead of 289 runs from India's 1st innings total.

The story was similar at Southampton where England's lower middle order stretched the total to 246 in the first innings despite being 86-6 at one stage.

On the contrary, India's lower middle order showed little resistance and Kohli was left alone without support at the other end more often than not.

Both the keepers Karthik (21 runs in four innings) and Pant (43 runs in four innings) did not make any active contributions.

Rahane did not come to fore until the third Test. Ashwin and Pandya too, with some exceptions, did not emulate the kind of blitz that England's lower middle order batsmen showed.

In hindsight, India's inability to curtail England's lower middle order and the failure of their own lower middle order batsmen proved to be a decisive factor against India.