India can definitely be beaten again - Alastair Cook warns Rohit Sharma after Vizag Test

England National Cricket Team batting great Alastair Cook has issued a warning to the Rohit Sharma-led India National Cricket Team after the second Test match of the five-match series at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam.

India managed to register a 106-run victory in the second Test match to level the series 1-1. England had shocked India in the first Test by winning from a difficult position and they would be looking to bounce back after facing a defeat in the second Test. The third Test is scheduled to be played from February 15 at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot.

Jasprit Bumrah was the chief architect behind the victory of the Indian team in the second Test as he bagged 9 wickets in the Vizag Test to bamboozle the English batting unit. Despite not getting help from the surface, Bumrah showcased sheer dominance and didn’t let the batters settle. He also won the Player of the Match award for his stunning performance.

Other than Bumrah, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill also played key roles in the victory of the side. Jaiswal smashed a magnificent double century in the first innings while Shubman Gill slammed a brilliant ton under pressure in the second innings.

Despite India’s brilliant performance in the second Test, Alastair Cook stated that the Indian team can be beaten again. He said that the reason behind England’s loss was the failure of batting and backed them to take learnings from the defeat.

“India will be relieved more than anything. They were under the cosh after the first Test,” Cook said on TNT Sports.

“England lost the game because not one of their batsmen had a match-winning innings. That is what they’ll look back at. Scores of 30-70 don’t win Test matches… England have got close here without any hundreds. They’ll be disappointed. There will definitely be things that England will take from this game, though. This Indian side can definitely be beaten again,” he added.

Alastair Cook opens up on Joe Root’s struggles in the Test series against India National Cricket Team

Alastair Cook also spoke about the poor run of form of the England modern-day batting great Joe Root in the ongoing Test series against India.

Alastair Cook said that Joe Root is trying to fit himself into the Bazball style of England and he tries to play attacking cricket, which is the reason behind his failure.

“He sees all these other people playing these aggressive shots, which suit their style. Rooty has got 11,500 Test runs, he’s brilliant, but he’s so desperate to fit into what Ben [Stokes] and Brendon [McCullum] are doing that sometimes I don’t think he gets his balance of attack and defense right,” Cook said.

“He’s England’s best batsman there’s ever been in all formats – but he does struggle sometimes with the tempo of this Bazball era,” he added.

In the second Test against India, Joe Root registered scores of 5 & 16 and got out while trying to hit a boundary off Ravichandran Ashwin.