Captain Cook yet to decide on England future

CHENNAI: England captain Alastair Cook had not made any decision on whether to continue in the job, the 31-year-old said after his team’s 4-0 series loss against India yesterday.

Cook landed in India with speculation about the position he has held since 2012 and the crushing defeat in India will only strengthen calls for him to hand over the Test captaincy to Joe Root.

“This is not the place to be asking me these questions,” Cook after after his team lost the fifth and final Test by an innings and 75 runs in Chennai.

“I have got to go away and do some thinking, get back home and do it without the emotive side of what’s happened over the last nine weeks,” he said after the defeat which pushed England down from second to fifth in the world rankings.

England’s loss was all the more frustrating for Cook because the tourists won the toss in four of the five Tests and were not made to play on the spin-friendly pitches which India rolled out to South Africa last year.

“It’s been a series of missed opportunities, in terms of catches that cost us,” Cook said. “Not being able to score enough runs and take enough wickets, it’s a tough dressing-room to be in. We tried as hard as we can but it wasn’t good enough.”

England’s sloppy fielding al- lowed Karun Nair to hit a marathon 303 not out which set the tone for India’s comprehensive victory in the final Test.

“It was a game of missed opportunities. We kept dropping vital chances and India kept punishing us.

“Credit to (India captain) Virat (Kohli), they’ve outplayed us. It’s a hard thing to say as a professional because you always think you are better than the opposition but we haven’t been so here.”

Earlier Ravindra Jadeja ripped the heart out of England’s batting order.

The left-arm spinner claimed seven of the 10 English wickets that tumbled in the final two sessions. The touring side needed to bat out the final day to secure a consolation draw and Cook and Keaton Jennings defended resolutely through the morning to boost their chances.

Jennings followed up his debut century in the previous test in Mumbai with a fifty but offered a tame return catch to Jadeja after making 54.

England’s batting mainstay Joe Root could only manage six runs before he was hit on the pad by a fuller delivery from Jadeja.

Jadeja claimed the last two wickets to finish with a career-best 7-48 as England, 97 for no loss at lunch, lost their last six wickets for 15 runs and folded barely half an hour before the scheduled close. –