Birmingham, Jun 24: England captain Alastair Cook said Ian Bell's dismissal in the ninth over was a poor umpiring decision which finally proved to be the turning point of the match for the hosts.
Bell (13) could consider himself unlucky as he got a raw deal from third umpire Bruce Oxenford. He was adjudged stumped off Ravindra Jadeja's bowling when TV replays showed that Bell had got his foot back before Dhoni was able to whip off the bails.
"I thought it was a poor decision," Cook said at the post-match press conference after India defeated England by five runs in the rain-hit final to lift the ICC Champions Trophy here last night.
"Look, towards the end, you're always going to -- spinning as much as that is, it's very hard for the new guys coming in. So we needed a batter in at the end if we wanted to win that game."
Cook, however, didn't say whether his report to the ICC will mention the umpiring howler.
"It’s all confidential," he said tongue-in-cheek.
Cook also said that England lost a great opportunity to do something special in the final of an ICC tournament.
By losing last night's Champions Trophy final against India, England's heartbreak of not winning a major 50-over tournament for four decades continued and Cook is just devastated.
"As a captain I had high hopes of achieving something special. We had the opportunity but could not do it," Cook said.
"But, you know, we'll look at, I'm sure, the emotions out of it, and we'll look at it. We'll build again for 2015, the next global tournament."
"(But) I'm proud of the way the lads have fought. We've been under a fair bit of pressure in this tournament. Quite a lot of criticism and flack have flown our way, yet we got to the final. We played some good cricket; we just couldn't quite get over the line today," he added.
Chasing India's modest 129 in the rain-curtailed 20-over-a-side game, England collapsed and lost four middle order wickets in a space of eight balls.
With 20 to get off 16 balls and with six wickets standing, England simply choked in the home stretch.
"You clearly back yourself to win than lose in most times from that position. But it shows you how quickly games can change in Twenty20 when you lose a couple of wickets," a dejected Cook said.
"And the new guys coming in on that wicket are always going to find it quite hard to hit those runs. I mean, we got close, obviously that was a really good partnership from Morgs (Eoin Morgan) and Ravi (Bopara) to get us back into the game. But, yeah, we would have probably win those games more times than not. But it's a tough pill to swallow."
Cook praised Indian bowlers for defending a low score.
"I think anyone saw those last few overs how much the ball spun. They keep saying you need your batters in at the end to knock down that total. So I think credit to India. I thought they bowled very well on that wicket," he said.
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