Data check: In Adelaide, Virat Kohli’s India will need to get rid of their first-Test blues

Since the 2007-08 series against Australia, India have won the first Test of an away series just three times in 16 attempts – twice against the West Indies and once against New Zealand. Perhaps more alarmingly, there have been just two draws in the same time period as against 11 losses.

It might be dangerous to read too much into these numbers but the simplest conclusion one can draw from it is that India do not begin away series’ well and once that does happen, the side is often trapped into playing catch-up instead of playing its natural brand of aggressive cricket.

These statistics are something Virat Kohli himself must be aware of. The Indian skipper likes a good chase but chasing in the short formats is very different from chasing in a Test series.

In the last few series’, India have often botched up the preparation and that has meant they have gone into the first Test on the back foot, a little tentative and unsure. But now Kohli is hoping his side can change that

“We do not want to start tentatively, we all want to express ourselves, go out there and be positive. Not meaning that we are going to play rash shots or be all over the place with the ball, but just in our heads — wanting to bring our A game in the first game itself and try to to lay a good foundation for us as the series goes on,” said Kohli in the pre-match press conference.

“We don’t want to wait to figure out what the conditions are or the pitch, we got to read it early and alter our games accordingly, which we failed to do on our last two tours. When we did it we have won games, but we’ll have to do it for longer periods to win a series which is our goal. We don’t want to be a side that plays exciting cricket in one Test match, we want to be consistent and for that we need to adapt quicker than we have done in the past,” the Indian skipper further added.

And adapting quickly is the key here. Once you get your nose ahead, the opposition needs to think differently and that alone can count as a big win against a home team.

The table below shows how India has done in the first Test of an away series since the Australia tour of 1999-2000. It makes for interesting reading:

When one goes through the data, three things emerge.

One, India have never exactly managed to start a series well and that has played a huge part in their poor away record. A loss puts the team under pressure and forces them into a reactive space. It also points to inadequate preparation. Experts have been calling for the team to play more tour games before the first Test but India seldom does that because of its cramped schedule.

Chetan Chauhan, who was India’s manager on the 2007-08 Australia tour and numerous other tours as well, had made the point in 2008 after the infamous ‘Monkeygate’ series.

“This has been a problem area for us for a long time and unfortunately we have not found any solutions to it. We always manage to lose the first Test and I feel it’s got to do with our psyche of playing it safe. It happened with us in 1981 and it has happened on this tour when we lost the first Test in Melbourne inside four days. I feel one solution is to get two to three practice games before the first Test and then another one after the second,” he had said.

Rings a bell or two, doesn’t it?

Two, given India’s away history an astonishing thing happened between the 2003-04 tour of Australia and the 2007 tour of England. India went eight tours without losing the opening Test. They won 4 matches and drew the other four. The 2003-04 series against Australia was drawn, India won in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, West Indies, England and lost only twice during the period – to South Africa and Pakistan.

This was a period when India’s batsmen from Sachin Tendulkar to VVS Laxman had the right mix of experience and form. Virender Sehwag was at his peak as well and Rahul Dravid provided them with a solid, consistent platform. The bowlers, led by Anil Kumble, often found a way to get the job done. They may not have had the same pace bowling depth of the current squad but they were very good on their day.

Three, Kohli likes to speak about how he now has an experienced squad that has played in conditions all around the world. But it is time his squad starts showing the value of that experience. The veterans of this side need to stand and make sure that India are not ceding the early advantage to the opposition because as we have seen, once that happens then things don’t exactly go to plan for India.

This is a young and inexperienced Australian batting line-up and if India can put them under the pump, they might find that their series will get off to the perfect start. And as they say, well begun is half the job done.