India v England: Alastair Cook defends team selection in fourth Test defeat
Tuesday 13 December 2016 07:02, UK
England captain Alastair Cook has defended the decision to play four seamers in the fourth Test, but admits it was a gamble that didn't pay off.
England lost by an innings and 36 runs in Mumbai to hand India a series win, but Cook defended England's team selection on a pitch that spun from day one, claiming England had to play to their strengths.
"Clearly the thought of it was, it does spin here but it doesn't always spin straight away." said Cook. "And our seamers have shown great control in this series in general. So we wanted that to try and keep the game in check.
"Our strengths are in our seam and everyone knows that. And that's no disrespect to Moeen [Ali] or Adil [Rashid], I don't mean it in any way harmful, but our seamers are world class, so we wanted to have a look at it.
"Without any practice games in the middle of a Test series, the only way to look at four seamers was to play them and take a bit of a gamble."
England played James Anderson (0-63), Jake Ball (1-47), Ben Stokes (0-32) and Chris Woakes (1-79) in their attack, but they took just two wickets between them as India posted a match-winning first innings total of 631.
Cook also urged fans to have patience with Rashid (4-192) and Ali (2-74), who took six wickets but failed to stop Murali Vijay (136), Virat Kohli (235) and Jayant Yadav (104) from making centuries.
"I remember having a conversation with Graeme Swann, he's one of our greatest ever spinners and he said that's one of the things that took him the longest to learn - the fourth, third innings - when it is turning, everyone looks at you; you're expected to bowl someone out, and that does bring added pressure," Cook added.
"For him to say that, who was clearly an outstanding bowler for England, it took him time to learn that and it'll take Mo and Rash time as well."
England became the first side in India to lose a Test after posting a first innings total of 400, and the captain admitted they let the game slip from their grasp.
"If someone had offered me 400 after the first morning I'd have probably taken it." Cook said.
"And with India at 300-6, we had an opportunity to get a lead. We missed Kohli at 60, missed Vijay's stumping and we missed Yadav as well, and they're three big things that you can't afford to do in these conditions.
"It is frustrating, it happens to every side I suppose when you're not winning games of cricket. It is hard, but it's a missed opportunity given the situation we got ourselves in."
Watch highlights from India's win over England in the fourth Test from 3pm on Sky Sports 2, with The Verdict following immediately afterwards at 4pm.
