Alastair Cook stepped down as England Test skipper earlier this year after his team was thrashed 0-4 by India away from home. But above every thing, it was self-doubt that forced the opening batsman to vacate the position.
The left-handed batsman who has been replaced by Joe Root as England captain finally opened up about his decision in an interview with The Times. Cook revealed that It was the 2-2 draw at home against Misbah-ul-Haq’s Pakistan that sowed the seeds of doubts in his mind.
“There is so much about this team. You don’t win an Ashes series (in 2015), having been such heavy underdogs as we were, and win them the way we did, and then go on and beat South Africa (in South Africa), like we did, without having a huge amount about you, but last year we didn’t push on from that. Not to beat Pakistan was disappointing.”
Cook, who holds the England record for captaining the side in the most number of Test matches (59), had decided to lead the side till the Ashes against Australia, but England’s dismal performance against India during the subcontinent tour convinced the 32-year-old to go for a change.
“Sometimes getting away and outside the team bubble can help and our hotel was out in the sticks. We didn’t see any of the guys. When I came back, it was quite clear in my mind,” he said.
The 140-Test veteran also holds the English record for scoring the most numbers of runs in the longest format and is just 118 runs away from going past Allan Border’s mark of 11,174 runs.