England captain Alastair Cook expressed confidence in his spinners ahead of the second test at Vizag.[/caption]Internet Desk: England Captain Alastair cook threw a challenge at Indian batsmen ahead of the second test match which gets underway from Thursday in Vizag. Cook has threatened to attack the Indian batsman with his spin trio Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid and Zafar Ansari.
Last time it was the English spinner duo of Monty Panesar and Graem Swann who bamboozled the Indian batsmen with their spin bowling. England after going one down in Ahmedabad went on to win at Mumbai and Kolkata to take home the series 2-1.
Alastair Cook looked confident after the spirited fight shown by his players at Rajkot. The England captain voiced confidence in his spin trio ahead of the second test. According to Cook, “I thought they bowled excellently as a group. Everyone came to the party and took a massive step forward from where they operated in Bangladesh. They can only take confidence from that as a group.”
Cook complimented former Pakistan spinner Saqlain Mustaq for his invaluable inputs to Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid.
“A lot of credit should go to Saqlain. He gave them the confidence to bowl in these conditions. They were all very inexperience but everyone took a big step forward and it's great to see that".
The draw in the first test no doubt has boosted the confidence of Cook as he felt, "The way we played was particularly pleasing over the five days we were really relentless with our game. Couple of dropped catches here and there but that does happen in every game but apart from that we were excellent with the ball. Three hundred in the first innings got us to 530 runs and then kept on the pressure in the second innings. We managed to push the game to the fifth day and that I feel is a big boost to our confidence. We can now believe that we can compete with them in these conditions.”
Cook also feels the pressure is on India now. "If you continue in that level like in Rajkot than there is no reason why we can’t put pressure on Indian batting with our spinners. It's great we have got that balance of seamers as well. Six bowlers in these conditions give me a lot of balance as captain," said Cook.
Talking about the pitch in Vizag the England captain commented, "Going by the stats everyone is telling us the pitch will turn more and more as the game goes on. So the toss will be very important but it does not guarantee anything. And if we happen to lose the toss then it happens to be another challenge that we have to try and overcome".
England pacer Chris Woakes has a knee injury and is very likely to be replaced by James Anderson. The England captain has high hopes on Anderson who played a key role in the series win last time both teams played in India. "Jimmy has come over and done really well in the nets. He is confident. He hasn't got miles in his legs, which is a fairly easy thing to say. Last time he bowled in a game was in August, so kind of weigh that up with a couple of guys who have been out here for seven weeks or so. Hindsight on this one will be a very easy decision".
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