After his side endured yet another embarrassing loss to India, England skipper Alastair Cook hinted he might soon give up captaincy. Cook has been under pressure from quite some time, as pundits back home in England have time and again questioned his leadership skills. The loss in the fourth Test against Pakistan began a worrisome patch for Cook, and since then, things have just looked worse.
In the post-match press conference in Mumbai, Cook admitted star batsman Joe Root was ready to lead the side if the situation demanded. Cook, however, mentioned he would sit with England’s Team Director Andrew Strauss and have a word with him before taking any decision over his captaincy future.
“I think Joe Root is ready to captain England,” Cook said. “He is ready because he is a clued-up guy and he has the respect of everyone in the changing room.”You never know until you actually experience it and everything that comes with the England captaincy. You are thrown in at the deep end and you kind of sink or swim. Nothing can prepare you for it. He has not got much captaincy experience but that does not mean everything.”
“The comments I made at start of series have not changed,” Cook said. “It sticks true to end of this series. I will sit down with Straussy at the end of the year like we have made the pact to do to talk honestly and openly about stuff. My position has not changed and wouldn’t have done had we won this game or lost this game. “Of course you have questions. Naturally you look at stuff. Clearly it is a hard place to tour, certainly with the balance of our squad in terms of where our strengths lie, the sub-continent is going to be a harder place to tour than somewhere like South Africa,” England’s leading run getter in Tests further added.
Cook also mentioned leading England for so long has been a big honor for him. “But being captain of England is a huge honor, a huge privilege. You are at the forefront of the team and it comes onto your shoulders when you win or lose. In the heat of the battle you make those decisions. You go to bed at night and you have to live with making good or bad decisions. As a bloke to be asked to lead your country is a huge honor personally.”