And so begins the great zigzag via Vizag, with England due to land in bustling Hyderabad on Sunday for a five-Test series against India that begins on Thursday; the start of an eight-week tour during which they fly back and forth across the country before ending up in the foothills of the Himalayas.
The first-timers will almost certainly coo at the snow-capped peaks when they reach Dharamsala for the series finale in mid-March, with the size of the task between now and then pretty much on a par. It has been 11 years and one month since India last felt the pain of a Test series defeat on home soil – a memorable 2-1 triumph by Alastair Cook’s side in late 2012 – and no side has even held them to a draw along the way.
