Ahmedabad, Nov 14: Alastair Cook couldn’t have had a tougher first assignment as the official captain of the England Test team than playing a four-Test series in India. His fate is such that he will be always judged by the very high standards that defined Andrew Strauss’s achievements as England captain. He has the onus to take England back to Test supremacy by attempting a historic series win in a land they haven’t conquered since 1984.
On the eve of the first Test, in Ahmedabad, the new England captain spoke humbly but confidently about his new role. “I’m excited about what’s going to happen, a little bit nervous but the overwhelming feeling is I’m very proud to be leading England,” Cook said. “I hope I do a good job for however long I’m lucky enough to be at this post.”
Cook has been at the helm of England’s ODI side since quite some time and he said his style of leadership will not change much in the longest format.
“I always find it hard when people ask what type of captain you’re going to be. It’s hard to put it into words. But what I can say is, it won’t change very much from what I do in the ODIs. You have to be authentic and cannot change who you are,” he said.
However, the 27-year-old acknowledges that leadership has changed the way he looks at the game. “When you’re in a position of responsibility, you have to think about the game in a different way and there are a lot of things on your agenda. Hopefully, I’ll get off to a good start.”
Along with the challenge of taking on India in their own backyard, another one of Cook’s challenges is to ensure Kevin Pietersen’s reintegration into the team after the events that unfolded in the last few months. While the cricketing world talks about the issues pertaining to Pietersen’s personality, Cook chooses to look at the value he adds to the team as a cricketer.
“As a captain it’s great to have a world class batsman like him. He’s a guy who can change the game quickly, like in Colombo, when he won us the match in a session. Not many people in the world can do that,” Cook said of Pietersen.
“The process, as everyone calls it, in my eyes is finished. We’re moving on. It’s great to have Kev back. The whole side has adapted to the situation and what’s happened over the last few months. We have to draw a line to end it and we have. I just want to concentrate on what’s important – our playing good cricket.”
Cook also insisted that changing Pietersen is not on his agenda as England’s captain. “What I don’t want him to change is his confidence and swagger because that’s what makes him such a great player.”
Cook knows that Pietersen will have to play an important role if England are to succeed in India. He is perhaps one player in the England dressing room who knows Indian conditions the best. Adapting to these conditions is one of the major concerns for visiting teams here and Cook is satisfied with the amount of work his team has done in that regard.
“We wanted to have as much practice as we could to get used to the conditions and for the first time since I’ve been part of the team, we’ve had three warm-up matches. That has given us a chance of not only giving practice to the players who we think will feature in the XI but also give an opportunity to the other players to get used to the conditions. So, on that front, we’re really well prepared. Yes, we’d have liked to face some more quality spinners in the middle but we can’t control that. What we had was some excellent spinners bowling to us in the nets.”
Although there will be a lot of pressure on India to win the home series, especially after the 0-4 defeat in England last year, Cook said that India’s record at home shows how well they can handle the pressure of expectation they face from a billion each time they step on a cricket field.
“In Test cricket there is a lot of pressure and especially here in India for the home team. The one thing they seem to have done well is cope with that over the years and it shows in their impressive home record.”
Cook also spoke touchingly about Yuvraj Singh’s return to Test cricket after going through the ordeals of lung cancer. “It’s an amazing achievement. All the cricket lovers around the world and even us, in the England side, were so devastated to hear the news of him having cancer. To actually come back and play cricket again is amazing. I’m so glad that he’s done that. He’s here, back playing at the highest level and he’s well, which is the most important thing.”
The England captain confirmed that fast bowler Steven Finn hasn’t recovered fully from his thigh strain and will sit out the first Test of the series. “Steven Finn won’t be available for tomorrow’s Test match. He’s made fantastic progress with his injury and has come off better than we thought but it’s too big a risk to go into Test match in these conditions for a guy who’s not 100 per cent fit and hasn’t bowled too much in the lead up to the game.”
