Yahoo Sport 
Where England need to improve to win in India
England's performances against Sri Lanka at the start of a busy year in Test cricket were encouraging. But an away series to an India side that has just beaten Australia in their own back yard will be a greater challenge for Joe Root's men. There are still questions to be answered ahead of the series.
The opening partnership
When England won in India in 2012, their first innings totals were set-up by their opening pair, Nick Compton and Alastair Cook. While Cook hit three centuries in a performance as great as his 2010/11 Ashes series, the austere Compton also unobtrusively made a crucial contribution, facing 613 balls in the series and allowing the middle order to benefit from a tiring Indian attack. England’s average opening partnership in the series was worth 70 runs; in Sri Lanka, the average opening stand was worth 8.5.
The lesson is simple. If England are to compete against India, they will need a far sturdier opening partnership than Zak Crawley and Dom Sibley managed in Sri Lanka. The pair are likely to be broken up in India, with Rory Burns slotting back in and Crawley slipping down to number three while Jonny Bairstow returns home for the first two Tests.
For all that Sri Lankan conditions exposed the openers’ lack of experience beginning their innings against spin – Crawley had never opened against spin in his entire first-class career, and Sibley had only done so three times – Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and co will also test every iota of the top threes’ games against pace.
Batting depth
With Sam Curran only making 13 runs across his two innings at number seven, England’s lower order felt uncomfortably weak in Sri Lanka. In the second Test at Galle, England’s last four wickets fell for 11 runs to hand Sri Lanka a first innings lead.
The return of Ben Stokes will give the batting an altogether sturdier feel. Stokes replacing Curran will mean that the wicketkeeper – first Jos Buttler, and then Ben Foakes when Buttler returns home after the first Test – slides down to number seven. Should England want extra batting fortification, including Chris Woakes is also an option.
Moeen Ali scored two Test centuries on England’s last Test tour of India and would also buttress the lower-middle order. But with Dom Bess taking 12 wickets in Sri Lanka, Moeen may need a pitch requiring three specialist spinners, or Bess to be dropped, to play his first Test since 2019.
The spinners' control
Dom Bess and Jack Leach shared 22 wickets at 27 apiece in Sri Lanka which, in isolation, sounds like an eminently respectable haul. And while Bess and Leach bowled well in tandem at times, especially during Sri Lanka’s final innings of the series, both will also recognise the need for improvement in India.
Ten days between Test matches mean there is limited work that either can do on how much turn or dip they generate. But England will hope that Bess and Leach are more accurate in India; after only two first-class games in his previous 14 months, Leach should be much better for the 110.5 overs he got through in Sri Lanka.
Not just relying on Anderson or Broad with the new ball
In both Test matches, England’s most prolific fast bowling partnership combined for two wickets in the first 20 overs of Sri Lanka’s first innings – exploiting every scintilla of movement that the pitches offered, and so abetting the spinners when they entered the attack.
Yet while Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson used the new ball brilliantly, England will need to take new-ball wickets from both ends in India. Jofra Archer, reinvigorated after his first extended period at home since bubble life began last summer, will be crucial. And in the day-night Test at Ahmedabad, England will be very tempted to select Broad and Anderson in unison.
