Disappointment since then and anticipation of a mouth-watering clash in 2021

Since then, India has traveled to England thrice, in 2011, 2014, and 2018. All the tours proved to be disastrous for India. Under Dhoni’s leadership, India lost the four-match Test series 4-0 in 2011 and five-match Test series 3-1 in 2014. 

In the 2011 Test series, India was rightly outplayed by England and the only saving grace for them was Rahul Dravid’s encore performances, He smashed three centuries in the series. He conjured 461 runs and shared the Player of the Series trophy with English pacer Stuart Broad. 

In 2014, after drawing the first Test in Trent Bridge, India gained a 1-0 series lead after victory in Lord’s Test thanks to Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Ajinkya Rahane’s amazing performances. Unfortunately, after that, England brutally thrashed India in the remaining three Tests to win the series 3-1.

Much was expected from the 2018 tour of England, under the current skipper Virat Kohli’s captaincy. However, despite spirited performances from the captain and the fast bowlers, India suffered a 4-1 humiliating defeat in the five-match series.

However, the series was a success for individuals like Kohli (593), the highest scorer in the series, Cheteshwar Pujara (278), and India’s pace unit. India’s pace unit shared 51 scalps amongst them, with Ishant (18) being the leading wicket-taker for India.

But the individuals failed to win Test matches for India. The visitors had a golden chance of beating England in England as they were coming off poor performances against South Africa, Pakistan, and the West Indies on their turf before hosting India.

As we look forward to the 2021 five-Test series, India and England stand on the same ground, as the home team is coming off a 0-1 Test series loss to New Zealand, while the visitors lost the World Test Championship (WTC 2021) final to New Zealand.

However, India will still fancy themselves in this series, despite COVID concerns, given that England players are battling bio-bubble fatigue and missing one of their best players in Ben Stokes, who has pulled out of the Test series and taken an indefinite break from all cricket.

The upcoming five-Test series between England and India will have the cricket world glued on with anticipation as one of the best batting lineups in the world clash against some of the best fast bowlers England has produced.