For a few games during the Ireland-England tour, India had to hide at least four players when fielding – a visibly out-of-shape group, all blessed with exceptional cricketing skills. Even the fitter ones in the team had low energy levels, and their adaptability to the English pitches was unprofessionally slow. The close to 20-odd days that the Indian team got to seamlessly switch from two months of IPL cricket, mostly played on flat tracks, to the lively English-Irish pitches wasn’t enough. India would lose 6 out of 7 T20s and 2 out of 3 ODIs. The unending intrigue-filled RoKo saga or the wins on the ongoing Zimbabwe tour don’t seem to gloss over the virtual wash-out in the UK. What was to be a fresh beginning under a new captain and the international launch of IPL stars got a brutal reality check. What was to be the delicate pruning of India’s fresh saplings, their first taste of the sun, turned into a routine weeding process. As those in the know say: “After the England tour, …