Alastair Cook banking on confidence to beat India

Alastair Cook banking on confidence to beat India

England’s Test and ODI skipper Alastair Cook believes that his team has gained immense confidence after beating India in the first match at Rajkot to go one up in the series.

Although there are four more games to follow, yet the confident English captain has set his sights on beating the Men in Blue on their home soil.

“It is important, for the main reason that it gives us the confidence,” Cook said at the post-match conference, which took place amid a deafening fireworks show.

“I mean it’s pretty much the same squad that we had last time out here when we lost 5-0. So to get an early win, especially in the first game, it proves to themselves that they can play in these conditions. You know it’s hard, you know it’s tough and it’s
different – but I thought the way we fought out there, we’re going to have to do that again in the other games.”

Cook had opted to bat first after winning the toss and his decision proved to be a good one in the end. His batters took advantage of the conditions and amassed 325 runs in the allotted 50 overs.

The openers Ian Bell and Cook laid a solid foundation and the middle-order capitalised on that by punishing the vulnerable bowling attack of the opposition.

However, the conditions remained good for batting in the second half too and India tried to fight back strongly. They fell short by just nine runs in the end and will have to bounce back in the series later.

Although the home team started off the chase in a positive manner, they were unable to weather the storm from the English off-spinner James Tredwell. He ended up being the player of the match for his figures of 4/44 in 10 overs.

Cook praised the efforts of his front line spinner and said, “We know what Tredders does. To get four from there (on a flat wicket) is really a brilliant effort.”

Other than Tredwell, debutant Joe Root also proved to be a surprise for the opposition, as he did not concede much runs in the match, despite being a part timer. 

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Posted by Waqar Masood on Jan 12 2013. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry