New Delhi, Oct 17: After their second consecutive ODI loss to India, England are staring at the prospect of surrendering the five-match series to India in the next ODI to be played at Mohali. Following the eight-wicket defeat at the hands of the hosts, England captain, Alastair Cook admitted that his team needed to work on their batting and fielding as they proceed into the rest of the series.

Excerpts from the post-match media interaction:

On the Gautam Gambhir –Virat Kohli partnership taking the game away from England after the initial two wickets

Yes. [We] were 0/2 [losing two wickets without any runs on the board] down, it was quite a long way back from there. We got a lot of 30s and 40s but we know that doesn’t win you a game. Virat and Gambhir then showed us what a partnership can do.

On what the pitch was like

It was a very good wicket. We got 30/40/50 runs too few when we batted. But credit to the way they [India] played, they played very well.

On England needing a good batting performance if they are to beat India

Yes, without a doubt. We prepared well for the first games. We just haven’t been able to [repeat] that kind of performance in the main games. It’s in there somewhere. We have to try [to] get [it] out [in a] couple of days time.

On what would England need to do at Mohali to better their performance

We need to score more runs. Our fielding wasn’t quite as high as the standards we set ourselves, so it’s a huge area which we can work on.