London: England coach Andy Flower feels India’s poor performance in the just-concluded Test series should in no way diminish his team’s achievement of humbling a side which features some of the most experienced players in international cricket.
With players such as Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman in their ranks, India, despite being injury-hit, were no pushovers but England made them look very ordinary by handing a 4-0 drubbing.
“They have dominated a very good side here, and I don’t think we should forget that,” said Flower.
“There are some very fine cricketers in that Indian side, and they have been performing at a high level for a very long time,” the Zimbabwean added.
England have now become the world’s number one Test team by dethroning India and Flower lavished praise on his wards for the rise.
“They are hugely experienced — so to play like we did and to dominate them like we did is a great credit to these England players,” he said.
“It gives me tremendous satisfaction, but it is the players we have to think about. I looked at them in the changing room after the game, and they can rightly feel very proud of themselves.
“They’ve put in a tremendous amount of hard work to get themselves into a place where they feel very confident and where they are making good decisions – and then are good enough to back them up out in the middle,” he added. (PTI)