This sixteen is not sweet

Indiarsquos defeat in the ICC World Test Championship final at The Oval provided another reason for pundits to bring up their favourite beliefmdashthe Indian cricket team can only win at home and crumble overseasThe 209run loss to Australia reflected an extremely poor show when much was expected from a topnotch batting orderWith due consideration to the great batting lineup which boasted of the Big Five Sehwag Dravid Tendulkar Laxman and Ganguly the current Test batting lineuprsquos strength Rohit Gill Pujara Kohli Rahane Jadeja reminded me of the 1986 tour of England where India had Gavaskar Srikkanth Amarnath Vengsarkar Azharuddin Shastri and skipper Kapil DevThat there was only one 50plus score from the current abovementioned group cannot be wholly attributed to the brilliant Australian bowlingYet despite being three down on the fourth evening there was a layer of optimism over India getting to their 444run target on the morrow The task of getting an additional 280 runs on the final day was made to look less Herculean by the thought that 164 was a decent launch padFans remembered the Indian team chasing 328 at Brisbane in 2021 even though the target at The Oval exceeded Brisbane by more than 100 runs By the first half of the opening session of the final day dreams were crushed with Kohli and Jadeja falling to Scott BolandA spineless display of batting ensured India continued their wait for Test silverware in England This lack of success in England should worry the BCCI bosses A few of them were at The OvalThe last time India won a Test series there was in 2007mdash16 years ago Instead of merely mentioning 16 years let me explain it in another way In 2007 the Indian Premier League hadnrsquot even witnessed its inaugural edition In 2007 current head coach Rahul Dravid was leading India and still had five years left in international cricket In 2007 Sachin Tendulkar was still 22 centuries away from his record 100th international hundred In 2007 Anil Kumble was still to lead India and Mahendra Singh Dhoni his successor had just played 20 of his 90 TestsTours to England have been invariably undertaken after the conclusion of the IPL and though not all English tours have had such short gaps like the current one the IPL final ended in the wee hours of May 30 and the WTC final started on June 7 fatigue caused through such a strenuous and stressful tournament could play a negative role when it comes to contests in EnglandSure cricketing ammunition which India had plenty of is a massive plus but tired soldiers canrsquot win warsThe irony of the Indian teamrsquos shambolic batting performance is that their head coach was a highly successful batsman on English soil and that includes limited overs cricket Dravidrsquos Test debut score of 95 at Lordrsquos in 1996 is remembered What is probably not as appreciated is his 84 in his next innings at Nottingham while Sourav Ganguly scored hundreds in both those India innings In the 1999 World Cup he averaged 6586 in eight innings and scored hundreds against Kenya and defending champions Sri LankaAt the height of his powers on the 2002 tour his Test scores read 46 63 13 115 148 and 217 He had a poor series with the bat in 2007 but lifted the Pataudi Trophy alright while in 2011 he scored three hundreds in four TestsPresumably Dravidrsquos words of wisdom on batting in English conditions were lost on his team Mind you batting in English conditions has its share of big challenges I remember speaking to Clive Lloyd at The Oval when India under Dhoni were set to lose their fourth Test in a row against England in 2011 Lloyd spoke about how preparation is key for an England tour and spelt out the obstacles ldquoEngland is a difficult place to play cricket The old ball will probably swing more than the new one You just canrsquot come in and think you are going to get runs People here were expecting much from India It is a much better side than what they are showing in the fieldrdquo said LloydAlso Read Lords and Oval among five centres for India Tests during 2025 tour of EnglandDoubtless India didnrsquot have enough time to acclimatise for such a high profile game and Dravid was not as hardhitting as he could have been ldquoThe schedules are very tight We hardly got a few weeks preparation after the IPL Plus there werenrsquot any tour games Irsquom not here to complain many congratulations to Australiardquo he saidYes Australia deserve the plaudits and this win has only added fuel in their tank for this summerrsquos Ashes It is also noteworthy that The Oval has not been a particularly profitable venue for the Australians Before the WTC final they had won only three Tests in the last 51 years across 15 Ashes series Now they have four Oval wins in this span And by July 31mdashafter the fifth and final Ashes 2023 Test theremdashthey could well thank India for providing them a perfect start to their English summerMeanwhile those enthusiasts who are justifiably disappointed at Indiarsquos WTC final show may want to think about how the amazing series win Down Under in 202021 attracted universal praise Letrsquos also not forget that India were leading 21 against England when the Test series went into lsquotobecontinuedrsquo mode in 2021Should the lsquotigers at home flops overseasrsquo line of thinking be up for reconsideration I think somiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stanceHe tweets ClaytonMurzello Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper