Alastair Cook praises Virat Kohli and concedes there has been no shortage of effort from England

England is having a disastrous tour of India and has already surrendered the 5-match series 0-3 with a match still to go. Captain Alastair Cook conceded that some of the tactics that they employed went totally against them but stated that there was no shortage of effort.

His captaincy has been under severe scrutiny in the past few months after England’s indifferent performance off late. Apart from scoring a century in the first Test at Rajkot, Cook has failed on all other occasions while Indian captain Virat Kohli has led from the front scoring a century and a double century in the series so far, notching up 640 runs in the process.

“One thing I can’t be criticised for is the togetherness and I have no regrets on the effort we have made. We would rather not be 3-0 down. Decisions, in hindsight, we would have certainly changed. We got some decisions wrong, but what happens, happens. I don’t think anyone can fault us for how hard we fought,” Cook told reporters at the pre-match press conference.

There have been talks going around to pass on the baton to Joe Root but Cook decided not to indulge in the debate and conceded that you are bound to get criticised if results are not going in your favour.

“You get judged on your results, don’t you? When you lose games you come under criticism. It happens to everyone, when Virat loses games, he will get criticised. When I lose games, I get criticised. That is part and parcel of it. Even Hartley, the England rugby captain, you win some games in cricket, lose games in rugby, his arm goes flying last week. You get criticised.

“When you are part of the leadership and stuff, you live and die by those decisions. When everything is going well, it looks good, everything is going badly, it looks terrible. You are probably somewhere in the middle most of the time.”

Speaking on the pitch Cook said, “It looks a good wicket. I don’t think anyone knows really how it is going to play. I have never seen a wicket dried with coals before. The groundstaff has done a fantastic job looking at it from where it was a couple of days ago. Anyone goes by looks, it is a pretty hard, dry wicket.”

Cook was in awe of Virat Kohli and the way the “Modern Master” has batted in the series so far. “His is a masterclass of batting. Looks like he stepped up. Full credit to him over the last couple of years. Likewise, Joe’s record is fantastic and he is a fantastic batsman. He is English, he is part of this side and it is.”

When asked on Virat Kohli’s captaincy, Cook concluded by saying, ”You just never know. A lot of players are spurred when they first take over and then it levels off after a couple of years. You find your genuine level. As I said Joe’s handled, the moment he came into the playing XI a couple of years ago(in 2012) as a young looking Joe Root – he hasn’t changed too much – he knew he was ready for international cricket, his mind, his game.”