Tourists go spin-heavy from start on mission improbable

HAVING been pestered throughout the Bazball era by the question of whether their punchy method might continue to work, England ought to draw fresh conviction from the fact that when it comes to breaching Fortress India, nothing else has.

- Malik Ouzia

Since losing to Sir Alastair Cook's England at the end of 2012, India have been imperious on home soil, sweeping aside all-comers to win 16 series without blemish, and losing just three of 46 Tests.

Assuming two banker predictions hold that neither the visiting gameplan nor home surfaces have been concocted with five-day slow-burners in mind to claim victory this time around, England will have to double that tally by mid-March.