India's 10-wicket loss to West Indies at Barbados continued a disturbing trend: India have, for the third consecutive time, lost a Test overseas after winning the previous one. Victories abroad haven't been as scarce as they were for a 15-year period from 1986, when the team won just two Tests out of 50 – against Sri Lanka in 1993-94 and against minnows Bangladesh in 2000-01. But invariably, instead of consolidating their lead, they have squandered it. The trend started in Zimbabwe. After winning the first Test at Bulawayo by eight wickets, they slumped to a four-wicket defeat at Harare, as the two-Test series ended 1-1. Then, on their tour to Sri Lanka in August last year, a depleted Indian team – Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Javagal Srinath and Anil Kumble were all missing due to injuries – achieved a famous victory at Kandy, chasing 264 in the fourth innings to level the series after losing at Galle. The euphoria was short-lived: India lost the next Test at Colombo by an innings and 77 runs, and the series 1-2.

On all three occasions, India have been let down by their batsmen, being bowled out on the first day itself. At Harare and Colombo, Sourav Ganguly won the toss and chose to bat; at Barbados, India were inserted by Carl Hooper, but Ganguly indicated that he would have batted first anyway.

After the Test, Ganguly attributed the defeat to lack of runs from the lower-order batsmen. It was hardly a new phenomenon. In the second innings at Harare, India slumped from 199 for 5 to 234 all out; at Colombo, the last five wickets added just 42 in the first innings as Muttiah Muralitharan ran through the Indian batting on a first-day track. At Barbados, the last five wickets added 51 in the first innings, exactly as many as the recognised batsmen.

SS Das, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly were the only batsmen who figured in all three Tests. Under intense scrutiny for his lack of runs in this series, Das scored a half-century in each of the four innings in the previous two Tests. Not once did he cross 70 though, his scores reading 57, 70, 59 and 68.

In fact, a common factor in all these matches was the failure of the batsmen to convert their starts – there were nine half-centuries, and 20 scores of 30 or more, but no hundreds. Das's 70 remained the highest score. On the other hand, the batsmen from the opposition got into the 30s on 17 occasions, but converted six of them into centuries.

One gentleman who saw the three defeats from very close quarters was umpire Asoka de Silva. He officiated in all these Tests.

S Rajesh is sub editor of Wisden.com India.

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