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Former England captain Alastair Cook has offered a sobering critique of the national team, suggesting that their 2-2 home series draw against India earlier this year was a deceptive result. Amidst England's Ashes struggles, Cook argued that the stalemate occurred against what he described as 'not a great Indian side', cautioning that the outcome may have masked fundamental weaknesses within the England setup. According to Cook, these unresolved issues have created an illusion of progress that is now being exposed on the global stage.
Alastair Cook takes a swipe at Team India amidst England's Ashes failure
The series in question served as Shubman Gill’s debut assignment as India's Test captain, a role he embraced with historic individual success. Gill dominated the English bowlers throughout the five-match encounter, amassing a staggering 754 runs and crossing the century mark four times. Despite Gill's personal brilliance and India's ability to hold England to a draw on their own soil, Cook remains unimpressed by the overall strength of that touring squad compared to great Indian teams of the past.
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Alastair Cook backs England amidst Ashes fiasco
Cook’s comments come at a particularly painful time for England, as they currently trail 1-3 in the Ashes and have already lost the urn. He believes the lack of a decisive victory over Gill’s side was a missed warning sign regarding England's preparation and tactical depth. By failing to dominate a transitional Indian team at home, Cook suggests England entered the Ashes with a false sense of security that has contributed to their current struggles in Australia.
"They started off with a bang, Key, McCullum and Stokes. I think McCullum won his first eight out of 10 games or something the first year. Since then it's gone downhill," Cook said during the Boxing Day Test.
"This year I think their percentage of win is like just above 30 percent so it's a bit of a downward trend. I like Rob Key, I like McCullum, I like how they think but I do think they've, this last little bit, they have taken our eye off the ball for the bigger series," he added.
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That Indian side wasn't a great Indian side either: Cook
Talking about England's five-Test series against India, Alastair Cook argued:
"They were talking about India, they lost, they drew India and India just got thumped by South Africa. So that Indian side wasn't a great Indian side either. So actually it's a reality, it's just hit this England Test team and now they're going to decide how they want to play with what players afterwards."
As far as England's Ashes campaign is concerned, Ben Stokes' brigade suffered crushing defeats in the first three matches against Australia. However, they managed to return to winning ways in the Boxing Day Test and defeated Australia by four wickets.
The fifth and final Test between England and Australia is scheduled to be played from January 4-8 in Sydney.
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