IND vs ENG 2024: England have lost the big moments in Test series vs India, says Alastair Cook

Former England skipper Sir Alastair Cook feels the visitors have lost the big moments in the Test series against India. England was in a good position at 175-3 but they were skittled out for only 218 runs on the opening day of the fifth Test match at Dharamsala on Thursday.

The tourists lost their last seven wickets for only 43 runs and thus once again could not make the most of their good start. Zak Crawley top scored with 79 runs but none of the other England batters could convert their starts into substantial score.

Similarly, England has failed to capitalize in crucial stages of the ongoing series and it has led to their downfall as they are trailing by 3-1 in the series.

“If you had said to me at 100-1 that this would be the situation four hours later… it has been the story of the series…England have lost the big moments, an hour has cost them games. And that hour here when they lost five wickets for eight runs will cost them,” Cook told TNT Sports.

On the other hand, Kuldeep Yadav returned with impressive figures of 5-72 as he bagged his fourth five-wicket haul. Yadav accounted for Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Zak Crawley, Ben Stokes, and Jonny Bairstow. Moreover, Ravichandran Ashwin returned with 4-51 while playing his 100th Test match.

Furthermore, Rohit Sharma scored his 12th Test match as the Indian skipper added 103 runs before being castled by England captain Ben Stokes, who introduced himself for the first time in the series. Shubman Gill also scored a fine knock of 110 runs but he was bowled by veteran James Anderson with an incoming delivery.

India are 286-3, leading by 68 runs on the second day’s afternoon of the fifth Test.