Former England captain Sir Alastair Cook said that Team India had panicked in the 1st Test in Hyderabad while chasing in the fourth innings. The veteran opener further added that India looked ‘at sea’ in the face of England’s all-round performance in their second innings. Despite finding themselves under pressure after giving away a 190-run lead, England bounced back and played positively. Ollie Pope’s 100 helped England post a match-winning lead of 230 to emerge victorious by 28 runs as well.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Cook added, “They didn’t know they were going to chase that fourth innings or tactically stop that England onslaught so they did look a little bit all at sea. I think it shook them. I think when you’re 200 runs ahead and they’re so used to winning games – they’ve only lost three Test matches out of 40-odd at home – suddenly [India thought]: ‘Oh god, oh this won’t happen for much longer.'”

He further added, “I think it’s probably one of the greatest away wins or wins anywhere considering where they found themselves at the end of day two. But also just in general to beat an Indian side like that in their home conditions, we know how hard it is. It was a brilliant effort.”

However, Team India had started well during their run-chase but debutant Tom Hartley sealed the deal. Meanwhile, England Test captain Ben Stokes once said that Cook wouldn’t make it to the team if he were playing in the recent era. Notably, Cook retired as England’s highest run-getter in the longer format, scoring 12,472 runs in 161 Tests at 45.35.

The veteran disagreed and stated: “I’ll sit and watch him – just remember who gave him his debut and all that kind of stuff. Ultimately, the volume of runs makes a big, big impact. If you go back to when I first started as a 21-year-old, I scored quite a lot of runs to force my way in. And if a 20-21-year-old does that there’s something about him. The selectors will definitely look at it.”