Not surprised by India’s stunning comeback in the third Test, England vice-captain Jos Buttler said they never ruled India out of the series despite being 2-0 up.
Hardik Pandya took 5/28 on Day two as England were bowled out for 161 runs, conceding a 168-run lead that swelled up to 292 runs at stumps on day two with India only two down.
"India were ever going to go anywhere. They're the number one ranked side in the world and they're there for a reason. It was always going to be a competitive series. Just because they were 2-0 down I don't think we could have taken anything lightly,” Buttler said at the end of day’s play at Trent Bridge.
Like India, England too got off to a very good start in the first innings with their openers Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings bringing up the 50-run partnership in no time before India struck twice in two balls sending both of them back to the pavilion.
We probably didn't quite hit our straps as well as we would have liked the first morning with the ball as well.
"It's very disappointing, after a really good start to the day as well, picking up those early wickets and being 50 for none. We let that slip. It's important we can recognise why it's happened, and improve," said Buttler.
The introduction of Hardik Pandya made the matters worse for England as the Indian all-rounder accounted for the opposition captain Joe Root on his very first delivery and went on to sweep the England middle order in his six-over spell.
"We know in England conditions can be tough, favourable for swing bowling. Credit to India, I thought they bowled really well and got the ball moving around, and we weren't good enough to deal with that today."
"It's been tough for the batsmen (at times) throughout this series. When we've got that momentum, when we've been bowling, it felt like we were going to take a wicket every ball.
"It comes down to how can you wrestle back the initiative, maybe with a counter-attacking style or someone trying to sit in and be a bit of a limpet for an hour and ride that session out. But obviously we weren't good enough to do that today," he added.
Buttler said that the key is to not repeat mistakes in the second innings if England are to improve their showing.
"It comes down to the guys working hard, being disciplined, practice, all of the above. It's hard, it's not easy, it's not meant to be easy. Test cricket tests individuals and teams in tough ways. It takes a lot of character for us to come back from tough situations like this.
"Guys have got to improve. We know that as a side - to get to where we want to go, we need to eradicate these collapses. The key is trying not to make the same mistakes. You can't keep doing the same thing over and over again, whether that's as an individual or as a team.