Former England skipper Alastair believes that the Ben Stokes-led side have repeatedly squandered advantageous positions throughout the ongoing five-match Test series against India. England’s struggles against India persisted on Day 1 of the Dharamsala Test, as they failed to capitalise on their solid start and were eventually bowled out for 218 runs in their first innings at the HPCA stadium.
Cook believes that the Ben Stokes-led England side has not been able to bank on their starts, which has ultimately resulted in them losing the entire plot of the game.
“If you had said to me at 100-1 that this would be the situation four hours later… it has been the story of the series…England have lost the big moments, an hour has cost them games. And that hour here when they lost five wickets for eight runs will cost them,” Cook told TNT sports.
The Indian spinners, led by Kuldeep Yadav’s impressive spell of 5/72, witnessed the Three Lions replicate a similarly disappointing batting performance to what they had displayed for the majority of the series. Following Crawley’s dismissal, the England batters who followed failed to stand their ground and were ultimately bundled out within just 58 overs of the first innings.
Apart from Crawley’s innings of 79 runs off 108 balls, none of the other England batters were able to cross the 30-run mark.
England throughout the series
Since their victory in the opening Test of the series in Hyderabad, England have not been able to get a grip on their opposition in the following Tests. During the Vizag Test, Zak Crawley was the only England batter who was able to showcase composure, without any major support from the other batters. Many fans and former cricket greats blamed poor shot choices and unnecessary aggressiveness as the reason behind their top-order failure.
The lackluster performance of England’s batters persisted in their embarrassing 434-run loss to India in the Rajkot Test. Ben Duckett’s brilliant 153 off 151 balls gave England a strong start in the first innings, but the other batters failed to build on it. Consequently, India set an imposing target of 557 runs in the final innings, which proved impossible from the start.
England’s best chance came in the Ranchi Test when a remarkable Joe Root innings of 106 runs off 262 balls propelled the visitors from being 112/5 at lunch to 302/7 by the end of Day 1. However, England’s trend of ‘individual brilliance’ failed them yet again, and their inability to hold their advantage lost them the match as well as the series to India by 3-1.
The early picture of the Dharamsala Test has already casted a shadow of doubt over their chances of getting a consolation win in the series as well as some crucial WTC points.
