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Rediff.com  » Cricket » Cook confident of return to form at Edgbaston
This article was first published 12 years ago

Cook confident of return to form at Edgbaston

Last updated on: August 6, 2011 09:27 IST

Image: Alastair Cook walks back to the pavilion after being dismissed
Photographs: Getty Images

Struggling England opener Alastair Cook is confident of re-discovering his form and contributing to his team's performance in the last two Tests of the four-match series against India.

Cook, who was the man-of-the-series after amassing 766 runs in the Ashes victory in the winter, has struggled for runs of late, but the left-hander remains hopeful of a turnaround anytime soon.

"It hasn't been the best couple of games for me, personally, and I think that's your lot as an opening batsman sometimes," said Cook, who posted scores of 12, one, two and five so far against India in the first two Tests.

"As an opening batter you can make a couple of mistakes and you pay the full price. I've just got to make sure my method in training and my practice is in place and I'm sure the runs will take care of themselves," he added.

Match-winning performance

Image: Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen during a practice session

England are currently leading the series against India 2-0, and Cook is confident that his team can dominate the third Test as well.

The Edgbaston Test will see the return of dashing Indian opening duo of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir. Pace spearhead Zaheer Khan is also expected to recover from a hamstring injury, but Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh will miss out due to injuries.

"We won't look at their side too much, but we do know that quality players are coming back and we need to be on top of our game, like we have been and hopefully someone can put in a match-winning performance," Cook told Sky Sports.

No. 1 Test ranking

Image: England Team celebrate after a fall of a wicket

England are just a win away from claiming the number one Test ranking from India but Cook said they are not looking so far ahead.

"...we're not there yet. There's a long way to go before we are.

"We might be at the end of the series, we don't know, but Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower are very keen that we don't look too far ahead," he said.