Mumbai, Oct 24: Facing the prospect of a 0-5 series whitewash against India, England ODI captain Alastair Cook was in a contemplative mood as he interacted with bcci.tv. Cook has scored 73 in the four ODIs that have been played so far at an average of 18.25 while his Indian counterpart MS Dhoni is yet to be dismissed in the series, having scoring 137 runs and finishing off a couple of matches himself.

Speaking about the tour with one last match to be played in Kolkata, Cook said, “It’s the last [bit of] commitment and desire [to win]. We didn’t get quite enough with the bat, quite frankly, today; that’s been our area of concern on this tour. We got [close to] 300 [runs] once in the last game; we needed to get close to that today.”

England, who had beaten India 5-0 at home a few weeks ago, are now fielding a slightly different team. Steve Finn, Scott Borthwick and debutant Stuart Meaker have taken on the Indian batsmen in the absence of Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad. “Finny [Steve Finn] has been quite the find on this tour; I don’t think he has had the luck. He has bowled fantastically well [on] his first tour. Scotty Borthwick might have gone for some runs, but there are encouraging signs for the young leg-spinner. And again, Staurt Meaker, on [some] days he [has] handled himself very well. There are a couple of positives there. It is frustrating when we don’t quite perform to our expectations.”

Cook, who has lost a series for the first time since he was instated as the ODI captain, added, “[India’s position] is quiet similar [to] when we were playing in our home conditions. [Conditions] do make a big impact, especially with a young side. India found that out when they came to England and we are finding that out now. It is different [to be playing away from home].”

And what were his thoughts on the youngsters in the Indian team like Ajinkya Rahane and Varun Aaron? “We know how talented the players are in India and they are a new bunch coming through.”

Later, Cook defended his teammates while addressing the media, saying the scoreline did not reflect his team’s commitment.

Excerpts from the press conference:

On whether the series felt like a nightmare

Yes, quite frustrating. I can’t fault effort, commitment, desire, training […] when we play. [We’re] just not performing at the level that we have [reached] recently, especially in England. But yeah, it’s just frustrating.

On being asked to pinpoint a reason behind three losses by big margins

No, we can’t. We [are] definitely talking the right things; it’s just a matter of executing that in the middle. We have been getting a lot of 30s and 40s on this tour, partnerships of 40s, 50s which [though] they are okay, they don’t get you a total of 300 [runs] which we know in these conditions is very easy. Once you get in in India, you have to stay, because a new guy coming in will [not] always have enough time to get used to the conditions and you can lose wickets in a cluster. We have done that on this tour and that’s why we are not posting 300.

On what he thought would be a par total at Wankhede when he opted to bat first

I think 270-280. We got off to a good start and then we lost two wickets in two balls and that takes [away] from a rewarding game […]

On resting Graeme Swann and including Scott Borthwick

[It’s a] dead series now for us and you don’t [often] get the opportunity to expose a young spinner to international cricket [in such circumstances]. [It’s not the] pressure as such, but the circumstances we find ourselves in. So that’s the reason we wanted to expose Scotty [Scott Borthwick]. I thought he bowled well, better than what his figures suggest. [He] set attacking fields. We knew we had to bowl them out if we wanted to have any chance winning that game so I thought we bowled well.

On his team

Yes, not too bad […] When you take over a new side, a young side, it’s never easy, as I kept saying when we won those first two series. It’s not always going to be that straightforward. It’s certainly a challenge, one that I am enjoying. It is frustrating also; we are not playing as well as we can.

On Steve Finn’s altercation with Virat Kohli

It’s desperation to win […] Our responsibility as a side is to get that balance [between aggression and sportsmanship] and sometimes on this tour we might have not got that.