IND vs ENG: Alastair Cook takes dig at England after batting collapse, says ‘you don’t win many matches...’
IND vs ENG: Alastair Cook takes dig at England after batting collapse, says 'you don't win many matches...'
England faced a poor Day 3 in the ongoing Rajkot Test against India after the visitors were made to pay for silly mistakes with both bat and ball on Saturday (Feb 17). Former England captain Alastair Cook did not sit back in criticising his side as they went from 207/2 to 319 all out. According to Cook, England won’t win many matches if they face a collapse of that order. At Stumps on Day 3, India had a lead of 322 runs and still have eight wickets in hand.
Cook takes dig at England
"My shout [from yesterday] of 'they could score 800 tomorrow is not looking too good - I'm only 481 off. Is it an opportunity lost? England have been poor with the bat - they've lost eight wickets for 116 today and you don't win many matches when you collapse like that in the first innings,” Cook said while speaking to Sky Sports.
"To win Test matches you have to be good for such long periods of time. India were poor yesterday but they've been very, very good today,” the former skipper added.
England starting the day at 207/2 lost Ben Duckett (153) early in the first session while Root (18) and Jonny Bairstow (0) also departed cheap. India entered Day 3 with no Ashwin as the spinner withdrew from the match due to personal reasons. India in the second session of Day 3 bowled out England for 319 with the visitors adding just 112 runs to their overnight total. Mohammed Siraj scalped four wickets while Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja also bagged a couple of wickets for the visits.
Cook remains the last captain to lead England to a Test series win on the Indian side when they beat MS Dhoni’s side in 2012-13. England will need another strong comeback in the Test series having earlier won the Hyderabad Test by 28 runs. The visitors were trailing by 190 runs at the end of the first innings but came back to win the match.
As things stand, they are England are set to face a target in excess of 400 with India already leading by 322 runs. Rohit Sharma’s side closed Day 3 at 196/2, banking on the ton of Yashasvi Jaiswal who scored 104 before he went with a back spasm.
