"Thought we could win series": Crawley's honest admission on England's Test series defeat against India

Zak Crawley. (Photo- England Cricket)

London [UK], March 29 (ANI): Batter Zak Crawley stated that the team was confident about winning the Test series against India while admitting that the team needs to capitalise on the opportunities, which helps to maintain their dominance.

After winning the opening Test, England suffered a 4-1 Test series defeat. England attempted to play their ‘Bazball’ style but failed to replicate the success that they have managed to achieve in the past.

While speaking to the media at the Kia Oval on the eve of the county season, Crawley backed England’s approach which saw them enjoy success in patches.

“We never really lost faith and had the same attitude, as you can tell from some of our press. We had the same attitude throughout and I don’t think that is arrogance. We genuinely believed in ourselves and thought we could win the series. We were in all the games. We certainly weren’t in the games when I was in India last time, so we gave ourselves a good chance and we weren’t quite clinical enough, like they were, to be fair,” Crawley said as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.

While talking about the 4-1 scoreline, Crawely expressed that the equation of the series could have been different if they had managed to win the fourth Test in Ranchi.

India were reduced to 177/7, trailing by 176 runs while trying to find a fitting reply for England’s 356. However, Dhruv Jurel turned the tides with his valiant knock of 90, which let the game slip from England’s hands.

“We should have won in Ranchi to make it 2-2 and then you never know how the last one goes, but it is always hard to wrestle the momentum back. Over five days, their skills are always going to come out, and they are a phenomenal team. It was a really enjoyable tour though, we gave it a good crack, and there is a lot to learn from,” Crawley said.

Crawley was the leading run scorer for England in the series, with 407 runs at an average of 40.70 in the five Tests. He talked about his own form and his technique to negate India’s letha spin attack.

“Hopefully I can push on from here but I certainly feel in a better place now than I did at the start of last year. Whenever I try to maintain [my form], I think you start getting worse, so I am always looking to improve,” Crawley said.

“Against spin, I was trying to get forward to smother the ball and it kind of worked for me. My head is a lot further forward than it used to be in my set-up. But mainly it’s just my attitude. I am trying to embrace failure more and accepting it is part of the game. So, I’m trying to stick with that,” he added. (ANI)

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