London, Dec. 17 : Former England captain Michael Vaughan thinks England can recover from bitter defeat to India and level the series in Mohali.

He told Telegraph TV that he was proud of his teammates'' performance.

He said: "It was a great game of cricket. Both teams played to an incredible standard in terms of what they''d gone through in the previous two weeks.

"The England team can be very proud of the way they played. For three-and-three-quarter days they dominated the Test and that is something which is very difficult to do in India."

Wearing his captaincy hat, Vaughan rued the fourth afternoon of the match, when England''s run rate slowed, giving India their first respite in the game.

"The defining moment was that middle session (on day four) when we probably let the momentum sway back towards India when we could have nailed home the game."

Vaughan, taking a sabbatical from the international game, has been in contact with the players during the tour and is confident that morale is good despite the defeat.

"One thing with the England team is we do have a ''bulldog spirit'', a fighting spirit. We proved that in this game."

However, Vaughan, England''s most successful Test captain, warned that producing another big effort in Friday''s second Test would be no easy task. (ANI)