AUS v IND 2020-21: Alastair Cook says England can learn from India’s fight against Australia; opines on Smith controversy

India beat Australia 2-1 in Test series to retain Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Former England captain Sir Alastair Cook praised the Indian team’s amazing efforts to win the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series 2-1 by beating Australia in their own backyard for the second consecutive time.

The Indian team battled the return of their full-time captain, a shaming loss in Adelaide, and multiple injuries, which led to them fielding five debutants in the series, to overcome all odds and win the series.

Stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane led the Indian team well earning a brilliant win in MCG, a fighting draw in SCG, and then beat Australia again in Brisbane, where they had not lost a Test since 1988. It speaks volumes for the visitors’ spirit, courage, determination, and self-belief to achieve what they did.

Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com, Cook said: "To win at the Gabba, to be the first side to win at the Gabba since 1988, just shows the achievement of those Indian guys. The fact that they had all those injuries and Virat Kohli going home, to achieve that is an incredible effort.”

"It shows how to play against Australia. It is a bit of a grind against their bowlers because they are so accurate and so, in their conditions, relentless.”

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"The way Pant played at the end was incredible, but Pujara at the top of the order, I know he only got 56 but 211 balls... they really made Australia work so hard for every wicket. Australia is one of the hardest places to come back from once you get behind there – it's a bit of a steamroller effect there. For India to do that with that side, only three of their starting 11 first choice, to win that was absolutely outstanding,” Cook added.

The antics of the Australia cricket team, including sledging from captain Tim Paine and a controversial incident that saw Smith appearing to scuff the pitch and remove guard marks, dominated the series.

Smith, who was previously banned for a year for his involvement in the 2018 ball-tampering scandal and lost his captaincy, got some support from Cook, who mentioned that the incident during the Test match against India has been "taken out of context".

He said: "I think, given what's happened [with Smith], obviously everything is going to be talked about. It's been taken a little bit out of context, I'd imagine, but from what's gone on in Steve's career he can obviously expect anything that is seen like that.

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Whether it is intentional or not, only he will know but, yeah, it only makes you more intrigued. I thought Ashwin's tweet was quite funny!"

Cook also felt that India showed England a way to beat Australia in Australia when the arch-rivals meet in the upcoming Ashes series.

"With Australia away, England have seriously strong strength in depth to be able to go there and play well. You see India have done a job on them in this series and almost showed the way to play against this Australia side. It's not easy, but it's proper grind cricket. India gave nothing away and eventually wore Australia down and full credit to them,” Cook said.

You may read the original story by RadioTimes.com here.