England captain Joe Root admitted that India outplayed the tourists in all three departments after his team suffered a humiliating defeat of 317 runs in the second Test of the ongoing four-match Test series at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Tuesday (February 16).
After an embarrassing defeat in the first Test, Team India made a stunning comeback in the second Test where the hosts crushed England to level the four-match Test series 1-1 in Chennai on Tuesday.
Following the massive defeat, England's captain said they “could've played that extra spinner” on the turning wicket of Chepauk Stadium against India. However, he is excited for the third Test which will be a day-night affair in Ahmedabad starting February 24.
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Root told Star Sports: “Credit to India, they outplayed us in all three departments. It has been an education for us, you could come up with conditions like these, and we have to learn from this and find a way to score runs. We need to learn to build pressure and bowl six balls at one batsman. On day one, we could have been a bit tighter, squeeze the game a bit more and make it harder for them to score.”
He continued, “From day two it was a very difficult wicket to bat on. But we have got to be smarter about how we're building an innings. We are 1-1 and we are excited about the next two games given the way we played in the first game.
We could've played that extra spinner; it is always easy to look at balancing a side at the end of the game. It will be different again when we turn up for the third game which will be a day-nighter, and very exciting last two games.”
For England, Moeen Ali was the highest run-getter, scoring 43 runs off just 18 balls, as well as, added the highest partnership of 38 runs with Stuart Broad in the second innings where they could manage only 164 runs while chasing mammoth 482 runs against India. Moeen also took 8 wickets in the game.
In the first innings, Ben Foakes was the highest run-getter for England, scored an unbeaten knock of 42 runs in Chennai.
Praising the two, Root said: “Moeen got better with the ball as the game went on, and we know how destructive he can be with the bat. Ben Foakes batted really well in the first innings and his keeping has always been excellent. There are definitely things we can take from this week and it is just important that we stay level as a team.”
He signed off by saying, “We performed last week and we have got to learn quickly. There are a lot of players who haven't played much cricket in this region and we have to learn quickly, which is something we have done well over the last few years. Ahmedabad will be very different, we have played only two pink ball games. It looks like a fantastic venue, really looking forward to that.”
(With ANI Inputs)
