India triumph Vizag, take 1-0 lead against England

Skipper Alastair Cook has expressed confidence that England can bounce back in the series against India despite the crushing loss in the second Test but said winning the toss would be key.

The 44-year-old, who is now the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) chief, says that hard-fought wins will make both Team India and Kohli “stronger”. These things that slow the game down for you. He took one wicket in the first innings but in the second innings he pitched the ball at the rough and took three wickets.

“They showed that you can bat on this pitch if you stick to your gameplan and you are mentally strong”. Skipper Virat Kohli praised his maturity.

But since the team management put a lot of onus on taking 20 wickets and making five bowlers play in the XI, India are losing on finding a stable option.

“When it comes to Test cricket as a team we are prepared to be in a situation where we have to work hard for our wickets”, he added.

Stuart Broad’s dedication: England fast bowler Stuart Broad was not in shape as he suffered hamstring in the first innings of the match.

Kohli said captaincy was not affecting his batting.

Batting fourth was always going to be a hard task for England in their bid to avoid a loss in Visakhapatnam, with the wicket offering vicious turn and uneven bounce. The England batsmen would not like to lose a wicket particularly in this phase, if they get set, and keep their basics right, this would be one wonderful Test match. He’s really impressive. I don’t think it’s unfortunate, you expect balls to keep low in India. “So I don’t think England will find it easy to manage that”, Pujara told reporters after the end of the day’s play on Sunday.

Shami was last man out – stumped by Bairstow off Moeen Ali’s first delivery of the day.

England could have gone into the pavilion feeling confident if they hadn’t lost Hameed and Cook.

England’s hopes took a further beating at the fag end of the day’s action when they lost the two wickets, staring at the prospect of going 0-1 down in the five-match series.

While Root made the most of the reprieve, Ben Duckett departed for a duck soon after, gifting India their first wicket as he gloved the ball on to his pad and up to the wicketkeeper when attempting a rather ambitious sweep.

“They bowled well. They are good bowlers in these conditions”. The England captain, however added, “But they are not Supermen by any stretch of imagination”. Ashwin in the second innings of the match took fifer while both Jadeja and Yadav took one wicket each.