Bazball needs a reboot as the England cricket sideshow begins series two

England were never expected to win. England were never meant to win. And now that they haven’t won, it’s a disaster.

In part they were victims of their own success, the
miracle of Hyderabad
shifted the
goalposts of what was to be expected from this team
, from a place where winning a single Test in India, who had lost just three Tests of their last 46 at home, would be considered an achievement, to one where England dared to dream of winning three out of five – and instead lost the remaining four.

The problem for England is that such was the
scale of the defeat in Dharamsala
, by an innings and 65 runs, that the tone of the series has changed. England had chances of victory in Vizag, Rajkot and most clearly, Ranchi. But instead of those instances being viewed as 50-50 flashpoints, they now look like the moments when England simply couldn’t hold on any longer. Parity wasn’t equality; parity was England at their best and India with gears to move into.

England hung onto India’s coattails until day three of the fourth Test in Ranchi. And then they fell. There are sliding doors moments, what-ifs and wonderings attached to all sporting events. But in Ranchi, with the first-innings lead standing at 176 runs and just three Indian wickets remaining, England were as close to home as you can be without putting your key in the door.

From that moment, India’s last three wickets combined for 130 runs, before England lost all 10 of theirs for 145. Instead of heading to Dharamsala at 2-2, the first time in 29 years that a five-match series had reached its finale at two wins apiece,
England had to lick their wounds and take one more beating
for their troubles before they could go home.