This series is reminiscent of Australia's tour of England in 2015. England were second best for long spells of that series but managed to triumph because they were more clinical in game-changing moments; partly aided by luck, partly by conditions, partly by bad decisions from opponents and of course their own skill. The same has happened here too. If anything, England have more questions to answer than India at this point in time. India are just a minor tweaks away from a fully settled XI.
Pant looks too raw for the time being, in front of and behind the stumps. He might be better served playing overseas with A teams rather than the senior team for the sake of his confidence. Pandya has displayed incredible potential and is perhaps worth persisting with, especially with an upcoming tour of Australia where the conditions will perfectly suit him. He may not be a Stokes-esque player just yet but he isn't so raw that he can't survive at this level of the game. The only player who needs to be immediately dropped is Dhawan, he's simply not reliable enough and is the kind of player who'll score a meaningless century that'll buy him more time to waste. Team rating in the first four matches - 7.5/10 (batting 6.5/10, bowling 8.5/10, fielding 7.5/10).
England's top 3 spots are an absolute shambles, they're sitting ducks against virtually every kind of attack. Root in theory should be a world class batsman but he's so irresponsible that he'd be nothing more than a sideshow Bob (like Rahane or Warner) for India/Australia/South Africa/New Zealand. Bairstow - Stokes - Buttler is an elite middle order that will fully blossom with time, they just require patience. Curran has shown a lot of promise but it still remains to be seen how effective he'll be in fast/bouncy conditions. His batting and bowling techniques seem tailor-made for swinging and spinning conditions but he has shown an once-in-a-generation level of maturity in all aspects of his game. That being said, England's bowling attack seems sorely lacking. It's not often that two sub-continental pace attacks outshine England's in the same summer, it's a huge danger sign. Anderson is showing clear signs of decline in terms of pace and Broad in terms of control. They desperately need to try fresher options before their two legends become complete liabilities. The transition between eras must be as smooth as possible. Their spin attack is nothing to write home about either although in Leach they have a very good option waiting in the wings. Team rating in the first four matches - 7.5/10. (batting 7/10, bowling 8/10, fielding 7.5/10)
