The ongoing Test at Chennai is a testament of England’s fortune in the series. Every time the visitors have performed well, the hosts have done even better and the story hasn’t changed in Chennai too. England were in the driver’s seat after scoring a mammoth 477 in their first innings but Virat Kohli’s men, led by a stunning triple century from Karun Nair and 199 from KL Rahul, replied with 759 runs.
Quite expectedly, England coach Trevor Bayliss was not pleased with his team’s performance in the field on the fourth day and admitted they were totally outplayed.
Speaking at the post-day press conference, he said:“It’s never easy when it happens. You’ve got to give credit to the Indian batters, who played extremely well.We just weren’t in the game today. At times, we struggled to bowl to the fields that the captain had set. That just makes it very difficult. Our catching is still below par – I think the last three catches we’ve dropped have only cost us 500!”
Ruing the lack of ‘natural athletes’ in the team, he added:“We’re a team that probably haven’t got a lot of natural athletes. We’ve got some very good cricketers. We haven’t got a lot of slippers… across the board, we’ve just got to get better – it’s as simple as that. We got totally outplayed today, for sure.”
The performance has only mounted pressure on Alastair Cook and when Bayliss was asked about Cook’s future as the captain of the team, he said:“I haven’t even spoken to him about it. I won’t do – that’s a decision only he will know the answer to.”
“He’s done it for so long, whether I say yes or no, it won’t change his mind whether he keeps going or stops. If he keeps going, fantastic; if he stops, that’s up to him, and I’ve got no problems with that either.
“I’m not going to put words into Cookie’s mouth or try and get him to make a decision one way or the other. He’s been around long enough, and knows his own mind, to make the right decision. I think he deserves everyone letting him do that,” he added.
When asked about Cook’s successor, the coach said:“I don’t think there’s too many of our players who’ve actually captained too many teams, or any of their county teams.”
Joe Root has been tipped by many to take the mantle from Cook and even Bayliss admitted the batsman is the front-runner to replace Cook.
“Rooty’s done a few games on tour, when Cookie’s had a bit of time off or when he’s off the ground. Joe is obviously our number one bat and is highly-respected by the players. He’s one of those guys who leads by example, and I can’t see that being any different when and if he takes over … if he takes over, I suppose, (because) we haven’t actually made that decision either. That will come next if Cookie does step down. But he seems like he’s the leading candidate at this stage,” Bayliss said.
Bayliss is also confident of a good show from his team on the final day. Alastair Cook’s men are trailing by 270 runs and with the pitch not providing too much assist to the bowlers, they will back themselves to avoid a 4-0 loss in the series.
“I’m as confident as I can be,” Bayliss said.
“These guys have character. We’ve been in a few tough situations over these seven Tests and have come out and played well the next day after a bad session or two. They won’t want to get on the plane in a couple of days’ time, having lost another Test match. They’ll want to bat as well as they possibly can,” he concluded.