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India v/s England: We proved that we can play in sub-continent: Alastair Cook

However, in the space of two weeks, they have done a remarkable turnaround, something that made their captain Alastair Cook proud of his team

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In only their previous Test before coming to India, the England players were criticised for not applying themselves against spin. They collapsed in one session in Dhaka to lose their first ever Test against Bangladesh.

However, in the space of two weeks, they have done a remarkable turnaround, something that made their captain Alastair Cook proud of his team.

"We proved to everyone else that we can play (in the sub-continent). I said at the beginning of this tour we have some very talented players. Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Joe Root, all world-class players. We got 537, showed the character.

"Rajkot was a different wicket to Dhaka. It was very pleasing to play 160 overs of hard graft to keep India below us. We did a lot of very good things. Just disappointed we couldn't quite get over the line," Cook said after England were held to a draw here on Sunday.

England gave themselves a bright chance of forcing a victory by declaring half-an-hour into the second session on Day 5. But the manner in which they took the Indian top-order wickets with spinners coming to the fore, questions were raised about the timing of his declaration. Couldn't it have come earlier?

"The reason was we didn't want to give India a sniff," Cook said. "Batting just to survive is a lot different than chasing 260, 270. On the same wicket we were 180 for nought (second innings). It wasn't a minefield. The odd ball did a bit. Maybe a braver person would have set them 240, but I thought it was a fair declaration, especially for the first game of the series."

The 31-year-old left-handed opener scored his fifth century in India and went past Don Bradman for the number of Test centuries. Though he did not want to be compared with the all-time great Australian, he was pleased to be scoring centuries in India, where he averages 63.56.

Asked what set him apart from the other visiting batsmen, Cook said: "Maybe because you don't get too many nicks here and the ones you do get don't carry. It's nice to score runs here. At the top of the order, if you get in – you saw in the partnership between Vijay and Pujara – if you get through the first 30 or 40 balls, there are big runs here. Luckily, my record here is okay," Cook, who scored 130 in England's second innings, said.

With his spinners taking 13 out of the 16 Indian wickets to fall, Cook was impressed with the trio of Adil Rashid, man-of-the-match Moeen Ali and Zafar Ansari.

"It was a brilliant performance all-round, especially our three spinners who came into criticism on turning wickets. Here was a flatter wicket and they bowled a lot better. It's great to have Saqi (bowling consultant Saqlain Mushtaq) here, he made a big difference to those guys. No one thought we had a chance."

The draw has given Cook and Co. the belief of doing well in the remaining four Tests. "As a group after what happened in Bangladesh, I keep saying that if we play on those wickets we need to readjust. On these wickets, it takes a bit of time to turn and pretty flat to start with. I was confident we will score the runs and confident we can bowl well enough to put India under pressure if we hit the same standards."

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