Not the best time to take captaincy decisions, opines Alastair Cook

Despite the mounting pressure on Alastair Cook to step aside in the wake of an embarrassing 4-0 series defeat against India, the England skipper insisted that the time is not right to take decisions on something as big as captaincy, in the heat of the moment. Cook, meanwhile, did admit that with the kind of potential and talent his side possesses, it was 'disappointing' to lose so many games in a calendar year.

Excerpts from Cook's press conference after England lost the fifth and final Test in Chennai by an innings and 75 runs, on Tuesday (December 20):

On captaincyI've got to go away and do some thinking. This is not the right time to make decisions as big as that. I need to go home first, enjoy Christmas as much as I can do, and then come back in January and look to plan with Straussy (Andrew Strauss) and see what's the right decision for English cricket.

I've got to go away and decide whether I am the right man to take England forward. It's the wrong time to make those decisions as the energy is low, and you can make foolish decisions as those times.

When there's not a Test match for seven months it'd seem very foolish to stand here now and make a decision which either you regret or don't. If there was a Test match in three weeks' time, you'd have to think. But while there is a bit of space, why not use it?

On England's this tour of IndiaIt's tough, it's been a tough tour. When you lose games of cricket it becomes very hard and it can be quite a lonely place.You've got to give credit to India. They've played some good cricket on the way.

We knew it would be a pressurised day today and at some stage we'd lose a couple of wickets in clusters. We weren't good enough or skillful enough as players to stop that momentum. So yes, it's tough.

Is now as low as it gets for the England cricket team?Yes, I think Australia 5-0 was as low as I could go and Sri Lanka as well at Headingley. We could list a few, if you really want.We've had some good moments as well - it's not all doom and gloom. I can't fault the effort in the dressing-room. We've stayed together as a team. Naturally when things go badly, things can break up. But the guys have been brilliant in committing to the cause. We just haven't been good enough to put India under pressure for long periods.

On being dismissed by Jadeja over and over againI have a good overall record against left-arm spin. My stats have taken a bit of a dent in the last six weeks and yep, I found him hard work.It's a strange thing for me and credit to him. He's found a weakness there and was relentless. I wasn't good enough to cope with it.

On the year in Tests?Frustrating. (We) played some good cricket at times and played some pretty average cricket. We haven't been very good when we've been behind in games, (in) finding a way to survive in tricky situations. But when we've been in front, we've dominated. It's been a frustrating year, and to lose that many times with the players we've got, is disappointing.

What went wrong here?I think everyone can see we are suited to playing in seaming conditions. There's no point hiding behind that fact. These conditions have tested us to our limits and I really don't want to be disrespectful to Mo (Moeen Ali) and Adil (Rashid) but they are not as good as Ashwin and Jadeja yet. They haven't quite got the control and consistency, certainly in the first innings when there's not much happening.

Mo has done an amazing job for us over a long period in terms of becoming England's No. 1 spinner. He's two wickets away from 100, so he's done amazing things and will only get better and better. The co-incidence when Saqlian (Mushtaq) was around and how much better we bowled as a group and that's something the system, or whoever, needs to look at in terms of our spinners.

Without being disrespectful, without two gun, world-class spinners, winning in these conditions is going to be hard. In other conditions with our seamers and spinners who are decent without being completely world-class we'll compete with anyone. But this is as hard as it gets for this side at the moment.

Captaincy & batting?I haven't been going out there thinking about my captaincy when I'm batting. I haven't been in as good form as I'd have liked.

On the last day of the Chennai Test?It wasn't great viewing and it's what can happen in this part of the world or in the pressure of a fifth-day Test match. The momentum is very hard to stop when a side gets going like that with the crowd and everything. You need to play bloody well to withhold that pressure. We weren't good enough to cope.

I'm gutted for the lads, it would have been great to escape with a draw but ultimately we weren't good enough.Blood sweat and tears went into this tour but the bottom line is we weren't good enough to compete with India and that's hard to take.