sport news Why conquering the Kingdom of Kohli is a mammoth task... India have lost just ... trends now

For England’s golden generation it represented the final frontier, the zenith of a relentless and ruthless journey that had taken in top-rank Test status.

To be the best, they say, you have to beat the best, and on their own soil that is what India are.

Of all the challenges thrown up by modern Test cricket none compares to the magnitude of winning a series on the subcontinent. India’s home record over the past 20 years is simply outstanding.

Not only by cricket’s terms, but when applied to any sport, and it therefore puts the achievement of an England side under Alastair Cook’s fledgling captaincy and smarting from South Africa snatching away their official number one tag the previous summer - into context. Amongst touring teams, they are the sole victors since Australia in late 2004.

It is also worth emphasising that after the winter of 2012-13, when Cook’s men came from behind with back-to-back wins in Mumbai and Kolkata, things have got even tougher for visitors to the Kingdom of Kohli.

India’s record on their own soil across the past 29 bilateral Test series is W 24 D 4 L 1, and they also won one-off matches against Bangladesh and Afghanistan in that period.

Where previously India outlasted opponents struggling to adapt to alien conditions, now they bulldoze them. Their numbers are phenomenal. It’s 14 series wins in a row and counting. Over these past 120 months, India have not gone three home matches without a victory.

So what does the Indian team that will be up against Ben Stokes’ Bazballers over five matches starting in Hyderabad on Thursday possess that its predecessor led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni did not? The answer is ambition.

In the consecutive captaincies of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, India have, like the England of Stokes, been prepared to gamble; to risk losing in pursuit of victory. Such positivity has suited their personnel.

Under Dhoni, India’s policy had been to remain in matches, and pounce late on should opportunity present itself.

Under Kohli, they made the running themselves, dictating their own terms and forcing opponents into retreat.

Kohli was in charge on 68 occasions, winning 40 matches - making him India’s most successful Test captain - but resigned from the post two years ago this month on the eve of his 100th cap, his desire to raise the team’s productivity having undoubtedly taken a toll on his own.

India won 26 and lost just two of 32 home Tests during his tenure, but one of the game’s most prolific centurions also sacrificed some of his individual game, going 27 innings without a hundred, in altering the mindset of the dressing room. Rohit is cut from the same rock.

One story that does the rounds in Indian cricket to emphasise the difference in outlook between the old and new regimes focuses on the Trent Bridge Test of 2014. India were 250 ahead with 55 overs of the match’s allocation remaining. England were struggling for form and under pressure.