Captain Cook wants England to show character

Disappointed skipper Cook wants England to show character in the remaining matches

England predicted all along that their Indian mission to follow up last month's home NatWest Series victory would be hazardous -- and their opening 126-run defeat proved them right. Even so, captain Alastair Cook is confident his team can bounce back from Friday's loss which demonstrated just how tough India are to crack on their home turf.


Alastair Cook

Cook's opposite number Mahendra Singh Dhoni's unbeaten 87 from only 70 balls effectively took the first one-day international out of England's reach. Dhoni combined with Suresh Raina (61) to devastating effect as India piled on more than 150 runs in the final 15 overs of their innings.

Despite Cook's near run-a-ball 60 in reply, England never got into a challenging position -- and a collapse of five wickets for 23 runs proved terminal. "Of course, we're disappointed -- it's a horrible feeling, losing," Cook said.

Self belief
"But what is important is the character we show now over the next couple of days; we don't lose that belief we've got in our side." England will still hope they can consolidate last month's 3-0 win at home to India, and overturn the early deficit in four more matches over the next 10 days. "We need to stay strong as a unit, which will test our team spirit over the next couple of weeks," added Cook.


Indian players congratulate Ravindra Jadeja (centre) for taking
the wicket of England batsman Jonathan Trott during the first ODI
at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Friday.
India won by a massive 126 runs to take lead in the
five-match series. Pic/AFP

"But that character is there to deal with it." England made room for rising star Jonathan Bairstow and the returning Kevin Pietersen, at the expense of Ian Bell.

Selection issue
But Cook does not believe the match was lost because of which personnel were chosen. "It's not down to selection," he said. "The 11 players who were lucky enough to play for England here didn't deliver the standards we needed to win. "It was a tough selection call. But we picked the XI we thought would win us the game."