VISAKHAPATNAM : England captain Alastair Cook felt losing the toss on Thursday will not be a big disadvantage, but refused to say much about the possible inclusion of James Anderson.
“Toss is important, but doesn’t mean you can’t win the game if you lose it. If you go back to our last game in Rajkot, our worse bit of the game was that first 25 minutes when we showed a bit of nerves,” he said on Wednesday. “Everyone says the toss is important. But if we lose it, it will just be another challenge to overcome. Hopefully, with Virat winning seven in a row, he’s due to lose a few.”
Cook said he was looking at retaining pacer Chris Woakes, who did well in the first Test, but there was a slight dilemma. The skipper revealed that he has a niggle. “Woakes is the one we’re looking at because of the amount of overs he has bowled over the last six-seven weeks. He was outstanding in Rajkot and we will have to make a decision after training. He’s just got a bowling niggle really. Just the normal wear and tear of bowling. He’s fine to play.”
He didn’t confirm if pace spearhead Anderson is in the scheme of things. “That’s the question we have to ask ourselves. James has come over and done really well in the nets. He’s confident as he can be in terms of his skills, but he hasn’t got miles in his legs. When we look back in hindsight, I’m sure it’ll be an easy decision. At the moment, it’s going through our heads what we are going to do,” he added.
Cook also lauded the way his spinners bowled as a group. “If we continue the same way we did in Rajkot, there’s no reason why we can’t trouble India with our spinners,” he said. “We’ve got some good players and good balance in our team. We’ve got people prepared to challenge themselves in training so that we come here prepared to go for it,” he concluded.