Indian players were overconfident: Duncan Fletcher

Duncan Fletcher

Indian coach Duncan Fletcher has said that his players, on the back of a successful home season, became ‘overconfident’ in their last two overseas tours, to South Africa and New Zealand. Team India lost both the Test and One Day International series in those tours, with captain MS Dhoni getting a lot of flak for his negative approach.

Speaking to BCCI.TV, Fletcher said: “With these young boys I felt they could have been a little overconfident when they went to South Africa and New Zealand because they had done so well in India. As the series went, it made them realise that playing away from home is very difficult.

“They believe that they have learnt from those tours and so there is positivity in the camp but the overconfidence has gone. But again, until you actually go out there and play a game, you will never know if you actually have learnt."

Since winning a 3-match Test series against West Indies 1-0 back in 2011, Fletcher’s first series after being appointed as the head coach, India haven’t won a single overseas Test series. Under the 65-year-old, the team has lost 10 of the last 12 overseas Tests played.

If India fail to do well in the upcoming 5-match series against a struggling England side, there will be serious questions asked of Dhoni and Fletcher.