Cricket: England's crucial passage through India
01.10.11
Groaning would in normal circumstances be the appropriate reaction to England flying off on Monday for another series of 50-over internationals only a week after the season has ended (and just as summer has begun). Not in this case: England's return leg of five one-dayers in India is as significant as any such series could be.
Only once before have England won a one-day international series in India, in 1984-5. So alien are conditions there for England's limited-overs cricketers that it needed serious infighting between Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev - India's two best players until that point, and maybe ever - for David Gower's team to win 4-1.
In more recent years England's one-day record in India has been gruesome: they have lost 11 of their last 13 internationals against India in their country, winning one, while the other - the World Cup qualifier earlier this year - ended in a tie. However many runs England have scored, India have scored more, and more quickly.
Source: Daily News & Analysis