What can Team India learn from English Tours of the Past?

#4 Batting in a Pack

One man cannot do it all.

It is commonplace in Cricket for bowlers to hunt in pairs or even in a pack. The same applies for batsmen. One batsman firing might win you a game here and there if he is extraordinary. But, unless the bulk of the batting order collectively fires, it is difficult for a team to hold its own for long, and you are bound to be caught in a long 5-match Test series. And that is exactly what has plagued India in its last two tours of England. Rahul Dravid in 2011 was the personification of a lone man fighting the battle- scoring 69% more runs than the next best Indian batsman in the Test series.

An analysis of batsmen scoring in packs in India’s last 4 tours of England yields interesting results. In 2002, in 5 innings out of 6, the third highest run scorer of the innings, scored at least half of what the top scorer scored, indicating a shared workload. In 2007, this was achieved 5 times out of 5*. A combined total of 10 out of 11 or 91%.

In the 2011 series, this came about only once in 8 innings, with only one batsman or at most two being left to fend for themselves and in 2014, things improved but not much with the stat being achieved in 4 innings out of 10. A combined total of 5 out of 18 or 28%- a stunning fall from the 2002 and 2007 tours.

Even contribution is a must

*Only completed innings considered

If Team India can get these things straight, we may well have a cracker of a 5-match Test Series ahead of us. For, the Virat Kohli led side definitely has the wares to challenge the English on their shores, much like Ajit Wadekar’s in 1971, Kapil Dev’s in 1986, Saurav Ganguly’s in 2002, and Rahul Dravid’s in 2007.