Sarfaraz-Padikkal partnership highlights how far short England have been

There is no rocket science to winning Test matches in India. Score around 400 in the first innings, and you’ll always be in the game. The first match of this series in Hyderabad, which India lost after scoring 436 in their first dig, was very much an anomaly in that regard. England’s first-innings scores have been 246, 253, 319, 353 and 218. With the exception of the 353 on a challenging surface in Ranchi, the other totals were way below par. It’s no surprise that they’re now staring at a 4-1 thrashing. 

On their last visit to India, in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, England could point to mitigating circumstances – pitches that were decidedly ordinary. But this series has arguably been contested on the best surfaces that India has seen since England toured in 2016. On that occasion, they topped 450 twice and 400 another time, and still lost 4-0. 

But that was against an Indian side for whom Virat Kohli was in such sublime form that he might have made runs with a walking stick. Those around him were also in their prime, and a new face like Karun Nair came in and smashed a triple-century in Chennai. India’s quality spin attack was a major difference, but England were also buried under sheer weight of runs from a line-up at its peak.

This time, Kohli didn’t even play a Test. KL Rahul limped away after one Test. Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane won’t wear the India whites again. Rishabh Pant, a generational talent, remains on Recovery Road after a serious car accident. Instead, India have seen three specialist batters – Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan and Devdutt Padikkal – make their debuts, and a new wicketkeeper-batter, Dhruv Jurel, also thrown in at the deep end of the pool.

Padikkal’s 65 on debut in Dharamsala illustrated the gulf between the sides. A couple of streaky edges to third man helped get him going, but there were also some wonderfully languid drives against pace and spin alike. There were shades of Yuvraj Singh at times in the way he used his wrists and timing to pierce the gaps while barely moving his feet. 

Across the 22 yards, Sarfaraz saw off probing spells from Jimmy Anderson and Ben Stokes before a fusillade of strokes took him to another half-century at nearly a run a ball. At 279-3, England had a faint sniff of a comeback. But the assurance with which Sarfaraz and Padikkal added 97 meant that the door was slammed shut. 

The series scoreline doesn’t lie. India’s cameos have been 50s and 60s. England’s batters have dealt in 20s and 30s. As for those who have dug in, Yashasvi Jaiswal’s two double-hundreds stand apart. For England, hundreds from Ollie Pope, Ben Duckett and Joe Root apart, Zak Crawley’s failure to kick on after multiple starts has been emblematic of their batting issues. 

India have by far the more skilled bowlers, and they’ve taken catches far better too. But England’s batters shouldn’t be getting a free pass. Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow and Root have over 100 Test caps each. Each one of them is a proven match-winner, yet they have had a disastrous tour, with the exception of a Stokes innings in Hyderabad and the Root hundred in Ranchi. Crawley and Pope have more than 40 caps, while Duckett toured India in 2016.

It makes you wonder just how much minds have been clouded by the needless Bazball hype and the urge to live up to it. Alastair Cook literally batted for days when England won here in 2012, and he was as anti-Bazball as you could get. And a generation ago, Damien Martyn put on the greatest modern-batting masterclass by a visiting player in India while hardly ever leaving the crease and playing the ball as late as possible. 

Whether it’s Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill or Jaiswal, each of whom can hit sixes for fun, they have known when to hang back and when to seize the initiative. On India pitches, that’s absolutely key. England can hide behind stock phrases and talk of progression, but even the ninth-wicket pair of Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah showed just how far they’ve lagged behind when it comes to the old Test virtues of concentration and application.