India v England: Graham Gooch hails Alastair Cook's 'best ever innings' as England fight back Gooch's pride in Cook's achievement was obvious yesterday as his apprentice showed plenty of his own traits: concentration, stamina and an unbendable desire to lead by example. "When you have been in the game as long as I have you have seen most things - poor shots, poor decisions, and bad mistakes but then sometimes you see the opposite like we did today," said Gooch. It was great commitment from our guys, fighting spirit and belief in their ability. Alastair lead the way as captain which will do him a lot of good. By putting that score on the board he showed what he and the team are capable of. He played an amazing innings for the team and did what was necessary when you are in charge. It was as good an innings I have seen him play. He was under great pressure after poor first innings performance, not from him, but by the team generally. Cook's temperament is admirable in a player who is still only 27. To bat unbeaten for 505 minutes in 33C heat with his side in desperate trouble and showing obvious signs of an old weakness against spin they claimed to have addressed was an incredible effort. It may have lacked the explosive skill of Virender Sehwag or the classy composure of Cheteshwar Pujara but Cook's innings was exactly what the team needed. "A lot of people have physical skill but you also need skill between the ears," said Gooch. This lad has had a great temperament from when he started. When he first came here [India] to make his Test debut, he scored hundred in Nagpur and he proved even then the priceless skill of knowing your strengths at a young stage in your career. A lot of young players find it takes time but he knew at the outset what he could do and what he couldn't do. He knows how he can score runs. He plays straight, plays resolute, has good defensive qualities and decision making. These are the skills you need to make runs. Sometimes guys go out and score a hundred. They have a good day. The boy today just made it happen. I think that was as good an innings as I've seen him play, because he was under great pressure after a poor first-innings performance from the team. One player not making it happen is Kevin Pietersen. Twice in this match he has lost his wicket to Pragyan Ojha making it 25 times he has been dismissed by a left-arm spinner. It is early days on this tour but the fear with Pietersen is that once there is a kink in his technique, it unravels quickly and he endures a horrid series, such as the one we saw in the UAE earlier this year. Pietersen does not work as closely with Gooch as the other members of the England squad. He tends to practice in the nets on a one-to-one basis with Mushtaq Ahmed, the spin bowling coach and it is likely he will ask for extra left-arm spinners in the nets over the next few days before the second Test starts on Friday.