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'We have not batted well in the entire tour'
England skipper Alastair Cook blamed poor show by his batsmen for his side's 5-0 ODI series whitewash by India and said he was "shocked" by the batting collapse in the fifth and final match in Kolkata.
In a stunning collapse, England were bundled out for just 176 after being at 129 for one at one stage with their batsman falling like nine-pins against the Indian spinners' guile to lose the match by 95 runs on Tuesday.
"It's really a bit of shocker. Incredible. We have not batted well in the entire tour. Batting is one of the team why we lost many games," Cook said after the match.
Cook said his side were a bit short on experience on Indian conditions."Not many of us have played here. The bowl does not come quite well in these conditions. Winning is a habit and losing is also a habit. When the confidence is not so high, it's not easy," he said.
"India's confidence is high. They are playing some decent cricket and it's hard to stop them," he added.
'We bowled really well again'
But Cook praised his bowlers and said lanky pacer Steven Finn has been the find of the series.
"We bowled really well again. The way we kept trying has been impressive. The credit goes to our bowlers."Morale can't be as high when you lose. But the past is past. Be it five or 10 games. We came a lot way short. A lot of these guys toured India for the first time. It's a first experience to these condition," he said.
"We played some decent cricket. We struggled in their condition, they struggled in our condition. It's tough as a captain. When you lose you take fair bit of responsibility. I can't ignore the way players played in this tour."
'Finn has been outstanding'
On the poor turnout at the Eden Gardens, Cook said too much of India-England cricket may be the reason.
"Seemingly for a long time we are playing each other, people must have been bored."It's been a fantastic year for English cricket. But obviously a disappointing end to what's been a good year," he said.
Praising pacer Steven Finn for his impressive show in the series, Cook said, "Finn has been outstanding bowler. He has been our standout performer in this series. In big picture, we had inexperienced players. But there are positives to take from the series."
Cook said Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and Mahendra Singh Dhoni were India's standout performers.