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India Vs England: From Virat Kohli to Jasprit Bumrah: Team India's Report Card from Test series

Barring India skipper Kohli, none of the batsmen lived up to the expectations and eventually lost the series. However, bowling was a major positive all through the series.

India Vs England: From Virat Kohli to Jasprit Bumrah: Team Indias Report Card from Test series

New Delhi, Sep 12: Team India lost the fifth and final Test against by 118 runs to be defeated by England by 1-4, thus bringing the curtains down on a tour which started as a golden opportunity but ended in a saga of disappointments.

A lot was expected of this Indian side for they have been doing quite well in the longer format of the game. A lot of hopes were raised the way Team India pulled things back in the series after going 0-2 down in the series but captain Virat Kohli and his boys failed to win the fourth and series was lost. The team had to play for pride in the fifth match and despite showing great fightback on the final day, the visitors lost by 118 runs.

KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant, who couldn't do much with the bat in the previous games, showed great character in the final innings and slammed respective centuries but their 204-run partnership couldn't rescue India.

The home side had started the series in fifth position and 97 points but the emphatic victory over top-ranked India has resulted in a big gain of eight points and lifted them to 105 points. India, on the other hand, lost 10 rating points but still managed to keep their top spot intact.

Barring India skipper Kohli, none of the batsmen lived up to the expectations and eventually lost the series. However, bowling was a major positive all through the series.

Here's how Team India performed in the entire series:

Shikhar Dhawan: 4/10

Shikhar Dhawan: 4/10

4 (matches), 8 (innings), 162 (runs), 44 (highest), 20.25 (average)

There were a lot of expectations from the left-handed batsman on this tour as he was looking in a rich vein of form prior to this tour. Dhawan had a decent outing with the bat in the limited-overs series in South Africa followed.

The southpaw had scored well in the IPL 2018 and a century against Afghanistan ahead of the England tour ought to have given a lot of confidence to the aggressive opener. However, Dhawan never looked in his zone on the entire England tour. He failed badly in the limited-overs and the poor form followed him the Tests.

Barring two 50-plus stands with KL Rahul in the fourth Test at Southampton, when Dhawan and Rahul put up fifty-plus opening stand, the India batsman failed to impress. Dhawan's poor outing could very well dampen his chances of making it to the Test squad in the near future.

KL Rahul: 5/10

KL Rahul: 5/10

5 (matches), 10 (innings), 299 (runs), 149 (highest), 29.90 (average)

The right-handed opener from Karnataka could have had a very disappointing tour had he not slammed a ton in the final innings of the fifth Test.

KL Rahul ended the previous season with 299 runs, but minus those 149 runs, he scored 150 in the 9 innings on the tour.

Just like Dhawan and Murali Vijay, Rahul too failed to give his team a good start with the new ball.

Rahul's scores on the English tour were as follows: 4, 13, 8, 10, 23, 36, 19, 0, 37 & 149. It seemed as if the talented young batsman, who scored a century (101*) in the T20I at Manchester raised hopes of a good show but things didn't go planned for him.

Murali Vijay: 3/10

Murali Vijay: 3/10

2 (matches), 4(innings), 26 (runs), 20 (highest), 6.50 (average)

There were big hopes from the senior Tamil Nadu batsman before the start of the series but Murali Vijay had a disastrous tour. In the first two games he opened the innings for India, the Monk scored just 26 runs. He was also dismissed for a pair in the second Test match and consistently failed to give India, a positive start.

As a result, Murali Vijay, who played more than 1000 balls in the 2014 tour, was rested for the third Test and even dropped from the squad for the remainder of the series.

Cheteshwar Pujara: 7/10

Cheteshwar Pujara: 7/10

4 (matches), 8(innings), 278 (runs), 132* (highest), 39.71 (average)

The Saurashtra batsman wasn't picked up for the opening Test, which India lost by 31 runs, and everyone suggested that the result of the match could have been different had the right-handed batsman been picked up by skipper Kohli.

Pujara was picked up in the second Test but was dismissed in an unlucky fashion in the first innings after getting involved in a mix-up and was run out.

He couldn't do well in the next two innings but came back strongly to score a valuable 72 in the second innings of the Nottingham Test, which India won by 203 runs. He followed it up with his maiden ton on English soil in the first innings of Southampton Test.

Pujara's gritty and unbeaten knock of 132* in that game was the highlight of the match, however, his ton went in vain as India lost that game.

In the fifth Test, Pujara failed to score big and India lost the game. This tour has been a mixed bag for Pujara, however, a better effort was expected from the senior pro, who spent almost the entire summer playing in the English conditions.

Virat Kohli: 9/10

Virat Kohli: 9/10

5 (matches), 10 (innings), 593 (runs), 149 (highest), 59.30 (average)

Virat Kohli the captain may not have had a good tour of England, but Kohli the batsman showed why he's a legend in the making.

In a closely fought series where rest of the batsmen struggled against a quality bowling attack from both the sides, Kohli was miles ahead in scoring runs.

The Indian batting mainstay, who had a disastrous season in 2014, silenced his critics with his imperious batting effort. The right-handed batsman scored almost 600 runs when the second highest scorer in the series, Jos Buttler, had aggregated 349 runs. Kohli was the only batsman to slam two centuries in the series and averaged 59.30.

Also, the much-anticipated duel between Kohli and James Anderson was won by the former as he never let the speedster claim his wicket.

Ajinkya Rahane: 4/10

Ajinkya Rahane: 4/10

5 (matches), 10 (innings), 257 (runs), 81 (highest), 25.70 (average)

The performance of the Indian vice-captain was one of the major disappointments on this tour. Rahane, whose batting flourishes in overseas conditions, failed terribly this time around.

Everyone hoped Rahane would be key to India's success in England but the right-handed batsman from Mumbai never looked in his zone. He slammed two half-centuries on this tour, with 81 being his highest, which proves why India's batting unit failed.

Hardik Pandya: 4/10

Hardik Pandya: 4/10

5 (matches), 8 (innings), 164 (runs), 52* (highest), 23.42 (average), 10 (wickets)

A lot was expected from Hardik Pandya, the all-rounder, in the series but he couldn't live up to the expectations.

The biggest contribution from him was the fifer and half-century in the third Test, that India won. Except that, Hardik Pandya's inclusion in every game was questionable for he was never utilised well as a bowler and proved to be a disappointment with the bat in almost every game.

Whenever the team needed his services as a batsman, Pandya couldn't deliver as he was expected to perform the duties of the sixth batsman.

Pandya was therefore benched in the fifth Test match and his replacement Hanuma Vihari, playing his first Test, made an immediate impact with a fifty on his debut.

Hanuma Vihari: 7/10

Hanuma Vihari: 7/10

1 (match), 2 (innings), 56 (runs), 56 (highest), 28 (average), 3 (wickets)

The debutant made good use of the opportunity and scored a half-century in the first innings. On a pitch where two of the best pacers in the world i.e. James Anderson and Stuart Broad were wreaking havoc, Vihari showed his defensive skills and temperament to prove his mettle.

He even picked up three wickets in England's second innings and broke the mammoth partnership between Alastair Cook and Joe Root.

R Ashwin: 5/10

R Ashwin: 5/10

4 (matches), 8 (innings), 126 (runs), 33* (highest), 21 (average), 11 (wickets)

Ravichandran Ashwin too had a forgettable outing on the tour as he neither performed with the ball nor he could perform his duties as a middle-order batsman. In the four games he played, Ashwin picked up 11 wickets and scored 126 runs.

The premier India spinner's best efforts were witnessed in the first game when he returned with 4/62 in the first game. One of the biggest reasons for India's series defeat was the fact that their lower middle-order didn't bat well.

Ravindra Jadeja: 8/10

Ravindra Jadeja: 8/10

1 (match), 2 (innings), 99 (runs), 86* (highest), 49 (average), 7 (wickets)

The Saurashtra all-rounder had to wait for his turn till the final match of the series.

The southpaw encashed the opportunity at hands and delivered with the bat as well as with the ball. Jadeja's unbeaten knock of 86 runs in the first innings of the fifth Test was a highlight of the match.

Jadeja was equally good as a spinner and proved things could have been better had India given him an opportunity in the previous games.

Ishant Sharma: 8/10

Ishant Sharma: 8/10

5 (matches), 9 (innings), 151 (overs), 18 (wickets), 5/51 (best)

The tall speedster was the most impressive Indian bowler in the series. He emerged as the highest wicket-taker for India in the series and constantly troubled the English batsmen.

Ishant showed his experience and led the Indian pace battery well and has managed to cement his position in the squad.

Jasprit Bumrah: 8/10

Jasprit Bumrah: 8/10

3 (matches), 6 (innings), 131 (overs), 14 (wickets), 5/85 (best)

Jasprit Bumrah missed the first two games and his return in the side in the third Test match proved why he's become such an important cog in India's bowling.

Having proved his brilliance in the limited-overs, the youngster is only getting better as he's playing Test cricket. He's in the process of becoming an important Test pacer for India.

Mohammed Shami: 7/10

Mohammed Shami: 7/10

5 (matches), 9 (innings), 172.4 (overs), 16 (wickets), 4/57 (best)

The Bengal pacer bowled most overs from India, however, he was unlucky to have not picked up few more wickets, despite bowling well.

Rishabh Pant: 7/10

Rishabh Pant: 7/10

3 (matches), 6 (innings), 162 (runs), 114 (highest), 27 (average)

The young wicketkeeper-batsman was picked up in the third Test match was handed his debut cap. In the first innings he batted, Pant scored his account with a six. Pant slammed his career's first ton in the fifth and final Test match of the series. The 20-year-old batsman showed his batting prowess and proved he's going to stay in the setup.

Dinesh Karthik: 3/10

Dinesh Karthik: 3/10

2 (matches), 4 (innings), 21 (runs), 20(highest), 5.25 (average)

The veteran wicketkeeper-batsman was picked up as the first choice keeper for the tour but the Tamil Nadu cricketer once again failed to live up to the expectations. As a result, team management dropped Karthik to hand over the responsibility to young Rishabh Pant. With Pant scoring a ton in the fifth Test, Karthik's chances of getting a place in the future Test series are bleak.

Story first published: Friday, September 14, 2018, 13:06 [IST]
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