Indian skipper Joe Root has given a clear statement that the Ashes series was by no means over despite England is trailing by 2-0 in the 5-match series after losing the second Test by 120 runs.

The English team was clean swept by 5-0 on their last visit to Australia, must now win at least two of the remaining matches in Perth, Melbourne, and Sydney, along with drawing the other, to retain the urn they won with a 3-2 triumph on home turf in 2015.

Despite England’s extremely poor record in Perth, Root said, “The way we responded with ball and bat in the second innings was outstanding (and) proved to everyone we are still massively in the series, it’s simple as that. We’ve shown throughout the two games in periods we can outperform Australia, just not over five days, and that’s going to be our challenge. If we can get that right, and perform to our ability for longer periods of time, we’ll win games. Simple as that.”

England’s late fight back in Adelaide gave them a ray of hope of claiming a victory with a ground record run chase of 354 but they ultimately deteriorated in the face of Australia’s pace attack on Wednesday.

Root’s knock has always been crucial for England hopes but he failed to capitalize on his overnight tally of 67 and the last six wickets fell for just 57 runs. Talking about the same, he said, “I don’t think we did ourselves justice. (But) give credit to the bowlers. They bowled a very good length and made it difficult to get set. On a fifth day wicket, you’re going to get balls that stay low.”

When asked about the similarities between 2013-14 series, Joe said, “I think we’re in a much better place than that, there’s still a lot of confidence going into that next game. We’re playing better cricket this time, I don’t think we’re as unevenly matched as we were last time around. You’ve seen us in control for periods of the game, whereas I don’t think that was the case last time round.”