Former England opener Alastair Cook was left extremely displeased at England’s batting collapse on Day 3 of IND vs ENG 3rd Test. England started the day in a good position, on 207/2. However, the Ben Stokes led team lost the remaining 8 wickets within just 112 runs as England were bowled out for 319.
England started their innings well, with Ben Duckett playing a aggressive innings. The batter completed his century in just 88 balls, becoming the fastest English batter to score a Test century in India. However, Duckett could only add 20 runs to his overnight total of 133 runs as the rest of English batters faltered big time. Ben Stokes built up somewhat of a resistance with 41 runs as the rest of the batters failed to score even 20 runs individually,
Following their first innings, England trailed India by 126 runs despite Duckett’s aggressive innings of 151-ball 153.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Cook slammed England for being poor with the bat on Day 3, claiming it is tough to win matches with this kind of a batting display.
“My shout [from yesterday] of ‘they could score 800 tomorrow is not looking too good – I’m only 481 off. Is it an opportunity lost? England have been poor with the bat – they’ve lost eight wickets for 116 today and you don’t win many matches when you collapse like that in the first innings,” said Cook.
“To win Test matches you have to be good for such long periods of time. India were poor yesterday but they’ve been very, very good today,” Cook added.
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