(But) I am not really concerned about it. I will keep on improving, |
200 was not the score we were looking at. Even that was made possible due to contributions from the lower order. We definitely need to look into it. |
Against a good quality seam attack not only us, anyone could have faced a problem. Asif hit the seam on the deck regularly at the right line and I have no doubt his bowling in both innings made the difference. |
Against good teams (like Pakistan), when you put yourself under pressure you discover lot of things like how you are growing as a team and I think we are heading in good direction. |
All of us had been reading about it in the history books over the years. So, it was very special just to have passed the same route after knowing about all those great people who have used that route. |
Also, in conditions like this, it can get very tough on the bowlers. We felt we needed five bowlers to keep them fresh and motivated, considering the long season ahead. We wanted to spread the workload ahead and guard against burn-out. |
At the end of the day I think he believes that a captain must get what he wants. In fact, in a lot of ways we do a lot of things in my way. |
At the moment, we want to give him some more opportunities at the top of the order. He is having a tough run of late. For us, it is critical to try and get him back into form and we will do whatever it takes. What he does for us when he fires at the top is very destructive, something he has done with a lot of success. |
Both teams know the importance of the series and I am sure the players are aware of their responsibilities. |
Both times we lost tosses and we had to respond to big totals, and that's not easy no matter how flat the wickets were. |
But scoring at eight runs per over was always going to be difficult. |
But this is a seven-match series and hopefully they would do so in the remaining games. |
Each day I am asked to do the job as captain I go about preparing for it not just in the short term but also in the long term. There is a responsibility to deal not just with what is happening now but also look ahead. |
England had shown in the Ashes series against Australia that if you play five bowlers, you can win some very good matches. |
England will be a very good side, very competitive. They've had a bit of bad luck and it has been a little unfortunate what happened to a couple of their key players. |