Jubilant with his teams' thumping win at Old Trafford today, England skipper Alastair Cook expressed surprise at India's abject surrender in the fourth Test, which allowed the hosts to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.
Getting behind a 215-run lead, the visitors were shot out for just 161 runs in the post-tea session on Day 3 as they went on to lose by an innings and 54 runs.
"You don't often get nine wickets in one session," said Cook smiling.
"At tea, we planned to get them six down at stumps. It was a question of sticking it out as a team because we were one bowler short when we came out. And then we got on a roll straight after and picked up those wickets."
"We were looking at bowling with three bowlers only. It was a great effort from Jimmy (Anderson). It was a matter of building the pressure and we thought it would be a good job if we didn't have to see Stuart Broad again tonight," he added.
It has been a major turnaround for England, who hadn't won a single Test in 10 matches until the 266-run win at Southampton in the third Test. They have not only put those losses, especially the 95-run defeat in the second Test at Lord's, behind them but are now looking a completely different side.
"When you go 1-0 down in a five match series, you still have a chance of winning the series and turning it around," said the English skipper.
"Throughout the summer we have played well in patches and then we had a bad moment or a poor session and we lost momentum.
"We were at rock bottom at Lord's but there was a glimmer because of runs from the younger guys. It was just a matter of the senior guys stepping up to the plate. A younger side has made it easier for us and it was a matter of believing and to keep doing the same stuff. It will eventually turn around. The challenge was to match the intensity and set the tone like we did on that first morning," he added.
If the fast bowlers had done the job for England in better first-innings conditions -- man-of-the-match Broad bagged 6 wickets, India surprisingly again fell to Moeen Ali who snapped up four wickets with the batsmen looking to attack him.
It must have been part of their game to attack Moeen," said Cook, praising his lone spinner.
