Everyone needs to contribute, says disappointed Cook

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One of the very few batsmen to emerge with his head held high in the big defeat to India in the first Test, England skipper Alastair Cook today said it was time for all the team members to chip in.

Cook made a defiant 176 in the second innings but could not avert a nine-wicket defeat here.

"If we have to win this series, we need everyone to contribute. There's absolutely no doubt about that. Everyone has to stick his hands up and say that," Cook said in the post-match press conference.

"The lads have not performed as much as they would have liked in this game and they would be very disappointed. That's cricket and we have to bat strong as a team," he added.

Cook said his team will need to improve in a lot of areas.

"When you get beaten by nine wickets you have to look at a lot of areas. There will be a lot to ponder to. There was a small chance of saving the Test, but we could not take that today and that has cost us," he said after his side was beaten with more than one session to spare at the Sardar Patel Stadium.

Though happy to score his third century on the trot as captain, having got two against Bangladesh earlier when he was standing in for the now-retired Andrew Strauss, Cook acknowledged that it was not for a winning cause.

"I am very happy the way I batted, to score any hundred is special for England. To score in that situation made it even more special for me, but the result is really what matters at the end of the day.

"We were not good enough in the five days to win. We showed a lot of character towards the second half of the game.

We got bowled out for 191 in the first innings and it was pretty much there we lost the game," said the England opener.

Cook, who batted for more than nine hours spread over three days, saw nothing wrong with the wicket though he conceded that the team management might have made a mistake by leaving out left-arm spinner Monty Panesar.

"I thought it was a very good cricket wicket. We thought it behaved better than we expected to. There was a bit for the spinners.

"We have to look at our selection. We thought we did the right thing (by leaving him out). Results show we might have got it wrong," said the left-handed batsman who notched up his 21st Test hundred and third against India.

Cook was optimistic that the England can score runs against this Indian attack.

"We can score runs against this Indian attack, it's just that we have to score in both innings and give ourselves a chance of winning the game. There are a lot of quality players in that dressing room who have scored hundreds against every international attack in the world," he said.

"We showed a lot character in the second innings but we got bowled out for 191 in the first innings on a good wicket, it was turning but it was there where we pretty much lost the game.

"For some it's natural (batting on such pitches), way of doing it and some have to work harder. It's a case of working hard in the nets and trusting that in the middle," he added.