Early wickets cost us: Cook
First Published : 15 Jan 2013, 22:22
Last Modified : 15 Jan 2013, 22:22
Outplayed by India, the Alastair Cook-led England side lost the second ODI by 127 runs at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here. The home team skittled out the visitors for just 158 runs. Although they dealt early blows when India opted to bat first, England were not able to cause any more major dents in the hosts’ line-up as MS Dhoni anchored the innings to set up a 286-run target for the visitors. During their run-chase, England lost wickets in quick succession and were unable to recover from these losses. After India’s young pace attack knocked them back, the spinners pressed home the advantage by striking at frequent intervals to take India to a convincing victory.
While speaking to bcci.tv after the match, England captain, Alastair Cook, reflected on today’s loss.
Excerpts from his interview:
On whether they were expecting to chase such a big target after the start they got
I think any total is chaseable these days if you set a platform and if you go in the last 15 overs. The sky is the limit going in the last 10 overs these days, if you have the wickets in hand. We just didn’t do that, and credit to the Indian team; they put is under pressure and took early wickets.
On the impact of the three wickets Bhuvneshwar Kumar took
We were going nicely after the first ten overs, but it proves that you can lose wickets in clusters and then early wickets really can dampen your chances of setting up a chase.
On Joe Root’s performance with the bat
I thought he handled himself very well in his first batting [opportunity] in one-day cricket; he got himself in and looked in control out there. If we were going to chase 280-odd, we needed big scores in the top order and we didn’t do that. That’s why we didn’t get anywhere near the target.
