Graham Gooch has hailed England’s back-to-back Test wins in India as a “monumental achievement”. Gooch, the highest run-scorer in England’s Test history and the side’s current batting coach, claimed England were now “in the ascendancy”, but warned that with one Test remaining, plenty of hard work lay ahead if they were to claim their first series win in India since 1984-85.
After losing the first Test in Ahmedabad, England won in Mumbai and Kolkata to take a 2-1 lead with one match to play. While Gooch praised the team for their fightback, he also suggested India might prepare a “result pitch” for the last Test in Nagpur, starting on Thursday, to maximise their chances of securing a result to draw the series.
“It was a monumental achievement,” Gooch said. “We know these conditions are sometimes alien to English players. We lost the first Test, we took a bit of a beating there, and in their conditions – India have set up the conditions in Mumbai and Kolkata – our guys have responded magnificently. Let’s be fair, they’ve outplayed India in both the last two Tests.
“When you go 1-0 down against hosts who have a very good record in their own conditions, it’s very satisfying when you can turn it round and use the skills you have practised long and hard to outplay the opposition. “But I don’t think for one minute that the guys think the job is done. We’re 2-1 up with one to play. We want a positive result in Nagpur. I don’t think I’m giving anything away by saying it’s going to be a result pitch in Nagpur. If I was India I would want a result pitch to take my chances.
“The things MS Dhoni has said after Mumbai I totally agree with – he wants to play on pitches that produce results and I don’t have a problem with that. I’d rather have a pitch that produces a result that one that produces 600 plays 600. So we know it’s likely to be a pitch where it will be tough for the batsmen, with the ball turning. But after our last two performances we can go there with confidence and we’ve got to make sure we bring our A game to Nagpur.”
