Rahul Dravid, the last captain to lead India to a series win in England, says the current side faced unusually tough conditions in the recently concluded five-match rubber and the batsmen must prepare better before embarking on the next English tour.

"Let's just be honest first. The conditions in England were not easy for batting. I think batsmen of both teams struggled. If you take out Virat Kohli from the equation, it was not an easy series for the batsmen. I have played in England quite a bit, the conditions can be tough but it is rare to find five Test matches which had conditions as tough as the one they found," Dravid said yesterday.