India v England: Rotation plan has not worked for Joe Root's side
- Published
Jonny Bairstow recorded three ducks in four innings after being rested for two Tests
I don't know any observers who expected anything other than England to be heavily beaten in India.
Even after winning 2-0 in Sri Lanka - a good achievement given the circumstances and conditions - the idea of Joe Root's side going on to lose 3-1 in India was about as optimistic as we could be.
That is no slight on England, more an acceptance of the reality of playing in a country where the hosts are almost unbeatable in certain conditions.
For England to win the first Test the way they did was superb and may have unrealistically raised expectations.
In the end, a 3-1 scoreline is no disgrace.
However, as we all know, the scoreline does not begin to tell the full story of the tour.
England had chances to win both the third and fourth Tests, only for the likes of Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin and Washington Sundar to snatch the initiative away.
In both of those matches the tourists picked the wrong team. In the third, they expected the pink ball to help the seamers, so they included James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Jofra Archer, yet the pitch rendered the pace bowlers to be relative spectators.
In the fourth, England opted for an extra batsman and spinner, only to be a pace bowler light when the red ball swung around.
You can understand why England made those mistakes, but that doesn't change the fact mistakes were made.
And the abiding memory of the way England plotted their way around India will be the rotation policy, which has severely impacted their selection options.
Would it have made a difference to the result? Almost certainly not, but that does not mean it has been handled correctly or will be without consequences.
Jos Buttler going home after the first Test win in India. Jonny Bairstow getting his place back in Sri Lanka, going home for two Tests, then coming back to get three ducks in four innings. The way the Moeen Ali situation negatively impacted Dom Bess.
It is important to say I completely understand what England were trying to do. Having been in a bubble myself last summer, I know the strain it can bring. They were attempting to ensure no-one struggled through the winter and ended up in a bad place.
But they simply weren't flexible enough, making errors that were far from rocket science.
Take the Bess situation as an example.
It is clear that if England knew the plan for Moeen was for him to leave after the second Test, then their request for him to stay should have come before they picked him.
If Moeen was always going to leave - which he was perfectly within his rights to do - then Bess should not have been dropped, because England were always likely to need him again.
The knock-on for a young bowler has clearly been really damaging.
England have made it clear the Ashes and Twenty20 World Cup next winter are the prizes driving their planning. Whether we like it or not, series against Australia and global tournaments are what the national side revolve around.
That is not to say what comes before them is not important, particularly home Tests against a very good New Zealand side and then India.
But, bar a couple of exceptions, I doubt England will lose a great deal a confidence from the defeat in India, and their team will largely revert back to what we knew at the end of last summer.
Bairstow and Bess will have to earn their way back, but Buttler will return behind the stumps and Jack Leach will complement the battery of pace bowlers.
In the batting, Dom Sibley, Rory Burns, Ollie Pope, Zak Crawley and Dan Lawrence will remain in and around the team, hopefully having learned from their experience.
To me, the big questions come around Archer's ongoing elbow issue and the desire to nurse Anderson and Broad through to one last Australian hurrah.
I also really like the look of Olly Stone. He has only played five first-class matches since the end of 2018, so can he stand up to the rigours of regular international cricket and an Ashes tour?
If England do have success next winter, then there might be more forgiveness given to their rotation policy, even if resting players who go on to take a full part in an Indian Premier League will always be tough to swallow.
If Eoin Morgan ends up lifting the Twenty20 World Cup and Root gets his hands on the Ashes urn, then the plan to fulfil those goals will have worked.
However, for this winter, it has not.
Jonathan Agnew was speaking to BBC Sport's Stephan Shemilt