Visakhapatnam Test: Turner or no turner, England not scared, says Alastair Cook

Visakhapatnam could dish out a turning wicket for the second India vs England Test. The first Test in Rajkot produced a track where batsmen thrived and England almost pulled off a win

England captain Alastair Cook said they are not scared of the fact that the Visakhapatnam pitch for the second Test could be a spinning wicket.

England skipper Alastair Cook said he has read reports about the pitch but reserved his opinion on how it could impact the match (REUTERS)

“It doesn’t scare us. If we get bowled out for 80 we get bowled out for 80 but if we play well and concentrate on what we can control and be ready to go at 9.30 am to play what will be will be,” said Alastair Cook ahead of the second Test.

Cook said he has read reports about the pitch but reserved his opinion on how it could impact the match. The first Test in Rajkot ended in a draw, India managing to save the match after some gritty batting by captain Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja.

“It was quite damp but that might have been light watering on the top,” Cook said.

Clearly not ready to read too much into the Visakhapatnam pitch, Cook is keen on picking up from where England had left in Rajkot.

“If we continue the same way we did in Rajkot there’s no reason why we can’t trouble India with our spinners. It’s relentless cricket out here and we have to be in that mindset to do it again,” he said.

Not too long ago, England were dumped out in Dhaka after losing 10 wickets in a session. Now they go into the second Test here knowing that they could have won the first Test on Rajkot had they timed their declaration better.

English have faced spin better

If it’s India, at least in the last decade, England somehow summon exceptional character to stretch their opponents every game. And the bedrock of their success here has been their ability to negate India’s famed spin.

Cook attributed that to their renewed concentration they underwent after the loss in Bangladesh.

“It (the Dhaka loss) didn’t make us bad players of spin but what it did was to make us focus in our training after those 10 wickets fell in a session. It kind of makes people not re-evaluate their game but really concentrate, particularly in those first 30 balls of your innings,” he said.

The pre-series camp in Mumbai helped.

“We had a really good couple of days in Mumbai and when conditions were slightly more favourable for batting the hard work we had put in paid off,” said Cook.