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We thought the target was gettable: Cook
The architect of England's win in the second ODI against India, captain Alastair Cook had thought of sitting out of the game after rain interruptions almost made it Twenty20. Cook has not quite made his mark on this particular format so far. But destiny played its own part and Cook's 63-ball 80 helped England comfortably chase down a stiff 188-run target in the 23-overs-a-side affair on Tuesday.
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"That was mentioned (in the dressing room) but in One-day competition, you are not allowed to bring in new players. I am pleased with my form and it shows the kind of right work I am doing. There is still huge amount I can improve. Hopefully I can keep doing it," Cook said.
Even though Indians ran up a good total, Cook believed it was only a par score on a very good batting wicket at Rose Bowl.
"We thought it was a fantastic wicket to bowl given it was under cover all day and night and it was raining and cloudy. But it didn't do anything and just skidded on nicely. At half way stage we thought it was a par wicket and the target was very gettable...it was proved the way we chased it down," he said.
Aggressive approach worked for England
Jonathan Trott bats on the similar lines of Alastair Cook and as the right-hander was left-out of the eleven, the onus was on Cook to carry on the good work. "We needed more attacking batters and that's why Samit (Patel) played. We had enough batting and we didn't need it (in a shorter format of the game)."
England are the world's best in Twenty20 and Test format and their next obvious goal is to be at the top of One-day cricket heap as well.
"It's a possibility but presently it's a long way off. We are No. 5 and we have huge number of work to do. We have a lot of potential but it's a long time before we get there. We need to hard work but we are desperate to do well and keep improving."
Indian batters have batted far more freely in One-Day Internationals than in Tests and Cook believed it's the format which suits their style. "It's a different format. They have a licence to go out and bat. Indian players, I have always said, are very talented and skillful. (Suresh) Raina is very hard to bowl at death overs. But we hung in well and did a very good job on a good wicket."