Cook must find new recipe

England captain Alistair Cook admitted his team were outplayed in every department yesterday as they began their tour of India with a huge 126-run defeat.

India set England a daunting target of 301 and any hopes they had of reaching it were wiped out in a spell that saw five wickets fall for 23 runs to leave them on 134 for seven. They limped on to be all out for 174.

Cook admitted England should have done a better job of restraining them.

“I think 260, 270 would have been a good total on that wicket,” he said. “It was an important toss to win because we saw at the end that the ball kept low, but fair play to India, they outskilled us in all three departments. We’re going to have to learn from this, and that’s the beauty of a five-match series.”