Having lost the third Test hands down at the Ageas Bowl on Thursday, India will now have to change their defensive tactics to compete at the same level with England in the rest of the series.

After winning the second Test as Lord’s Mahendra Singh Dhoni should have taken the bull by the horn by playing attacking cricket rather than relying on defensive tactics by packing the side with batsmen.

Earlier this year in Sharjah, Sri Lanka had resorted to similar tactics while going on the defensive in the decisive third Test after having won the second Test against Pakistan but paid the price as Pakistan raced to a record run chase and won within two sessions to win the match and level the series.

Playing spinner Ravichandaran Ashwin alongside Ravindra Jadeja should have been a sensible option for Dhoni instead of playing an extra batsman with many of them seemingly struggling against the moving ball. Had Dhoni done so, the story of the third Test could have been a lot different.

England’s solid display with bat and ball has helped them make an impressive comeback and that might as well haunt India in the remaining two Tests.

Ashwin, many experts believe, should’ve been part of the make-up right from the start of the series and I agree with men like Rahul Dravid and Geoffrey Boycott in saying that a second spinner should have been the right combination on wickets where signs of spin have been pretty ominous right from the second day.

Knowing well that England do not have the services of Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott and only Alistair Cook and Ian Bell form the backbone of their batting, playing a spinner like Ashwin could have benefitted India against a rather suspect English batting line-up.

In Ashwin’s absence, England’s inexperienced batting line-up flourished with Gary Ballance, the Zimbabwean-born batsman taking the attack to them while both Bell and Cook also took full advantage of the situation and played themselves back in form.

India were quite lucky that Murali Vijay, Ajinkya Rahane and Jadeja showed a lot more confidence and skill against the moving ball than their star batsmen Shekhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli, both of whom have been struggling to cope with English conditions and the swing that both Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad have managed to impart to make their stay at the wicket short and frustrating.

Bowling in tandem, Anderson and Broad have become the third pair of fast bowlers after the duo of Courtney Walsh and Curtley Ambrose and the pairing of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis to have shared over 500 Test wickets between them.

They certainly have raised their profile as fast bowlers by exploiting the pitch to suit their brand of medium-fast bowling.

The bearded Moeen Ali of Pakistani descent, who earlier in this Test came out in protest of Gaza killings wearing a wrist band and was later banned by the ICC for doing that, has proved to the Indians that spinners do have a place in this series.

He may not be in the league of Muttia Muralithran or Saqlain Mushtaq but he certainly has the skills to exploit a turning surface — and with it, bowling an occasional Doosra.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2014