COOK & CO. IN A TAILSPIN

Cook says England fought well

Vizag, Nov. 21: England skipper Alastair Cook on Monday said Virat Kohli’s knocks proved to be the difference between the two sides after the visiting team’s crushing 246-run defeat against India in the second Test here.

“If you took Virat’s runs out of the game — I know you can’t do that — but we have put their batters under a lot of pressure,” Cook said at the post-match press conference.

Kohli followed up his first innings 167 with another 81 in the second essay to set a herculean 405-run target for England and they were bundled out for 158 in 97.3 overs with India taking eight wickets in a little over one session.

The scorecard may have indicated a huge English defeat but Cook said there were many positive to take from the match.

“What’s giving me belief is over 10 days of cricket we have competed very well in India in their conditions. Yes we have lost by a big margin but the margin of runs is different. We could have played more aggressively and lost by 150 runs or so. But we went that way,” Cook insisted.

Counting on the positives before going into the third Test in Mohali, Cook said: “Adil Rashid has been excellent in these two games, a real step up for him. Ali bowled really well. Jimmy (James Anderson) is good on his comeback. So a lot of good things. We have got to put the whole game together to beat

India.”