India coach Rahul Dravid has credited England for the way they played in the second innings of the fifth Test concluded on Tuesday. England chased down a mammoth total of 378 in less than 75 overs in the fourth innings of the fifth Test.
Indian bowlers looked helpless in front Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root who remained not out after scoring centuries.
“I would definitely say that we controlled the game on three days but yesterday (on day four), we did not bat that well (in the second innings), and with our bowling in fourth innings, we were not able to sustain that intensity. We must give credit to them (England) for the way they played. (Root and Bairstow) formed a brilliant partnership, we got small two-three chances but were not able to capitalise. But sometimes you need to applaud the opponent as they had a really good partnership and both of them (Root and Bairstow) played well,” said Dravid in the post-match press conference.
“Look, I think they played really well. I must admit I did not get to watch much of the series against New Zealand; we saw parts of it when we were doing our planning and preparation. But they played well, to chase down the kind of totals they have in all those four Test matches, has been exceptional.”
The duo stitched to a 269-run partnership that helped England to chase their highest total ever in the fourth innings.
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With India going to play white-ball matches against England, West Indies, Australia apart from Asia Cup in the run-up to the Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia in October-November followed by a tour to New Zealand, they are not scheduled to play Tests till they go to Bangladesh for a two-match series later in the year. Dravid promised that India will improve upon their mistakes to do well in upcoming Tests.
“The way cricket is going; you do not get time to reflect. After two days, I will be talking about something else but we will look at it. After every match, you learn something and you need to take some learnings irrespective of whether you win or lose. We need to look at why we were not able to bat well in the third innings and then were not able to take wickets in the fourth innings, which should have been done. We need to look at what we can do.”
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