England go for broke in mission impossible to beat India in their own backyard

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.

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