No matter how you spin it, Alastair Cook and England face a daunting task in India

England have the best record of any visiting side in India since 2000, but those numbers are all redundant against an India side who look unbeatable led by Virat Kohli on surfaces that spin big, spin early and spin right through the Test, writes Osman Samiuddin.

England captain Alastair Cook applies sunscreen during a training session at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on November 4, 2016. England play a five-match Test series against India with the first Test at Rajkot from November 9-13. Indranil Mukherjee / AFP
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If it makes England feel any better, they can take refuge in plenty of numbers. With three Test wins and four losses, for instance, they have the best record of any visiting side in India since 2000.

They are the only team to win a Test series there since 2004-05, Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen, James Anderson and the spin pair of Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar fashioning a famous 2-1 triumph in 2012-13.

Their top order, collectively, also has the second-highest batting average in the country since 2000. Cook, on whom so much will depend, loves batting in India – he averages over 60 in the country and, on average, faces over 140 balls between dismissal. That stickability will be critical.

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Moreover Ravichandran Ashwin averaged over 50 with the ball in the 2012-13 series; Virat Kohli's average against England barely creeps over 20; and Anderson has been a potent pace bowler in India.

Yes, on numbers England should begin their five-Test series in India on Wednesday in Rajkot skippingly. Except that all of these numbers are redundant at the moment.

The India England toured in 2012-13 is a vastly different challenge to the India that England tour now – their series win that season, in fact, was a catalyst for Indian cricket at home.

Since that loss, India has exercised far greater and complete control over the surfaces and they do so unapologetically. Most pitches they have produced since now spin big, they spin early and they spin right through the Test. It will not be any other way now, more so given England’s struggles in Bangladesh.

On such surfaces it is impossible to see how India can be beaten. New Zealand were blanked 3-0 even though their bowling regularly made early inroads into India’s batting. Last year South Africa also lost 3-0, despite dismissing India for 201, 200, 215 and 173 in two of the four Tests.

But for two reasons this has hardly mattered. One, India’s lower order is exactly the kind of nuggety, annoying one that does not often get blown away. They scrimp and scrounge together runs.

And two, those runs are critical because no touring side has yet figured out a collective way to prosper as batsmen on these pitches. Maybe it is not even really possible. However many or few runs India do end up getting, they are invariably more than enough.

England at least have the depth in bowling to compound top-order Indian failures. Cook will always have more faith in his pacemen than his spinners but that is because the former are so good. And in case of innings that stretch on, there is no better side in the world at reverse swing than England.

On paper, even the batting has depth. Adil Rashid batted at No 10 and No 9 in England’s last Test and he has a first-class batting average of nearly 35 (and 10 hundreds). Chris Woakes, at eight, averages nearly 35 in Tests (and 37 in first-class cricket). That is no tail.

But that depth is somewhat undone by a misfiring top order. Ben Duckett was assured in his last innings in Bangladesh, but Cook’s long-term search for an opening partner must still be said to be ongoing. Prospects for Gary Ballance do not look especially bright. And then, already, we are into the all-rounders.

Also, as accomplished as those all-rounders have been in rearguards, they would not have played in conditions as extreme as these and, more pertinently, against bowlers as adept at exploiting them as Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. In other words, turning 80 for five into 350 at Lord’s or Old Trafford is one thing; doing so in Rajkot or Mumbai or Chennai is quite another.

Still, England remain probably the best-equipped side to push India, especially as Pakistan are not visiting any time soon and Sri Lanka and Rangana Herath have not since the end of 2009.

A first five-Test series in India since 1987 also means there is time for England to recover from early setbacks. Equally, however, early knocks could irreversibly set the mood for the rest of the series, especially as there is barely any respite between each Test.

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