MELBOURNE: Batting great Alastair Cook said England's 2-2 home series draw against Shubman Gill-led India was against not a great Indian side, flagging concerns over the team's preparation for the Ashes, in which they are currently trailing 0-3.
The five-match series against India ended in a 2-2 draw earlier this year.
It was Gill's maiden assignment as Test captain and the young batter finished the series with a prolific 754 runs, including four centuries.
Cook said England's recent results had masked deeper issues, creating an illusion of progress.
"They started off with a bang, Key, McCullum and Stokes. I think McCullum won his first eight out of 10 games or something the first year. Since then it's gone downhill," Cook said on the opening day of the ongoing Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
"This year I think their percentage of win is like just above 30 percent so it's a bit of a downward trend.
"...I like Rob Key, I like McCullum, I like how they think but I do think they've, this last little bit, they have taken our eye off the ball for the bigger series."
Citing the five-Test series against India, Cook said, "...they were talking about India, they lost, they drew India and India just got thumped by South Africa. So that Indian side wasn't a great Indian side either.
"So actually it's a reality, it's just hit this England Test team and now they're going to decide how they want to play with what players afterwards."
England have lost the first three Tests of the Ashes against Australia, going down by eight wickets in Perth and Brisbane and by 82 runs at Adelaide.
England are currently chasing 175 to win the fourth Test on day two in Melbourne.