Chennai, Dec 20 (IANS) After going down by an innings and 75 runs in the fifth cricket Test and losing the five-match rubber 0-4, England captain Alastair Cook conceded that they were just not good enough to bat on a fifth day wicket that was aiding spin.
Trailing by 282 after the first innings with a day and five overs to be played, England were sitting comfortable at 97 for no loss when lunch was taken on the final day.
But in the second session, they were in dire straits at 167-4 and in the final period they were bowled out for 207 runs, surrendering the contest with close to an hour of play left during the day.
This was England's fourth consecutive loss after the opening draw against India as Alastair Cook's team conceded the biggest so far series loss at the hands of the Asian giants.
"No excuses, India were the better team and deserved to win. It was a fifth day wicket, out of the rough it turned. We got ourselves in a good position at lunch but it wasn't enough to get out," Cook said.
England had scored 477 runs in their first innings but they allowed India to post their biggest total of 759-7 declared as they missed out on several chances to dismiss triple centurion Karun Nair (303 not out).
"We dropped vital chances and India have been punishing us -- it's hard to stop the momentum. Credit to Virat (Kohli), they've outplayed us. It is hard to say as a professional but they've been better. It's a series of missed opportunities, dropped catches have cost us.
"We were unable to score enough runs and take enough wickets. It's a tough dressing room to be in... we tried as hard as we can but it wasn't good enough."
However, the visiting skipper refused to question the qualities and the efforts his players offered. "I can't fault the application or effort and we stuck together as a group but we didn't get big hundreds. I don't think we ran out of fight. All the guys gave their all, we just weren't good enough."
