India vs England 2016: Alastair Cook must lead from the front and rediscover resolve to bounce back

Alastair Cook has not been his usual fluent self in the current series

Alastair Cook was looking composed enough at Mumbai in the fourth Test of the India-England Test series. He was timing the ball well and used his feet to get into the pitch of the ball while defending the good ones on a track which offered turn and bounce pretty early.

He was providing the perfect foil to debutant Keaton Jenning’s fluency and for a while, it seemed like Cook had finally found back his lost rhythm.

With the opening partnership one-run shy of a hundred, Cook attempted a cross-batted shot against Ravindra Jadeja and was stumped to frustrate the English dressing rooms and his critics. Yet again, Cook failed to convert a good start into a big hundred and the pressure upon him is mounting tremendously by the day.

When England arrived in India four years ago, they were disturbed by the events on and off the field. The Kevin Pietersen saga led to a divided house while losing the home series against Graeme Smith’s South Africa shattered the confidence of the team to a great extent.

Meanwhile, the retirement of Andrew Strauss, under whom England brought home the Ashes from Australia after 24 years, created a vacuum which triggered a headache among the English hierarchy.

It was never going to be an easy task to find a worthy replacement for Strauss and very few expected Cook to turn things around very soon.

The 2012 Indian series

England’s next assignment was a tough one – the Indian tour. Playing a Test series in India is one of the most challenging tasks for the touring sides, and that too against a well-balanced Indian side at home. The batting was oozing with talent and experience while the bowling attack boasted the likes of Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh and new emerging talents – Ravi Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha.

England were not considered to even put up a fight on the rank-turners against such an excellent team.

But to the astonishment of all, England triumphed under Cook after they started the series with a defeat in Ahmedabad. But Cook’s brilliant knock in the second innings of the first Test helped boost the confidence amongst his men and made them believe that batting is not an impossible task on India’s turning tracks.

The English team regrouped under Cook in the following Test matches. At Mumbai and Kolkata, England outclassed India to win the Test series and a lot of credit went to Cook, whose absolute purple patch with the bat, inspired others to dish out match-winning performances.  

Moreover, Cook’s outstanding form with the bat helped England to rediscover resolve which is always an important ingredient to conquer adversity.

Cook’s current form adding to the English’s woes

Sadly, in the ongoing Indian tour, Cook is a shadow of his best. He started off well in Rajkot and, it seemed that he had buried the ghost of Mirpur. But in the following two Test matches, he failed miserably. Being the captain and most experienced campaigner of his team, it was very important for Cook to marshall the batting order as his side’s middle-order is fragile and not very experienced in Indian conditions.  

Cook’s lean patch reflected in his captaincy as well. In the critical last session at Mohali on day 1, a defensive Cook allowed India to recover from a hiccup.  

In my opinion, Cook should not have taken the new ball, but persisted with the older one as scoring runs were pretty tough with the old ball. Moreover, as the English pacers are well-equipped to make the old ball move late and pitch it areas where the bounce is low, taking the new ball didn’t seem to me a wise decision.

The Indian tail wagged leaving Cook and his men frustrated.

Meek tactics by Cook doesn’t help the English cause

While in the second Test at Vizag, questions were asked about his decision to bring in Zafar Ansari during a crucial passage of play when Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli were not yet set at the crease and India were two down pretty early. Ansari came into bowl and released the pressure and lost the advantage. The two Indian batsmen stitched a big partnership which dented England’s good efforts in the early part of the game.

Cook should have used the new ball more rather than bringing on the spinners early. The pace bowlers are England’s main strength and when the team doesn’t have quality spinners like Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar, how justified is it to play three spinners and rely more on them remains a moot question.

At the other end, Cook’s counterpart, Virat Kohli’s sublime form with the bat and aggressive intent have proved to be the difference for India. Kohli’s ability to motor on has helped India to surpass the critical periods and thus, never let the confidence of his team get dented, while his faith in his strike bowlers and rotating his options, helped India control the proceedings 

That’s how a captain’s good form and aggressive intent can galvanise a unit.

Right now, England are 2-0 down. A herculean effort will be needed to script a memorable comeback. And to essay a great turnaround, Cook must score runs and change his approach while leading his men on the field.

He must not forget, it was his brilliant form that led to a great recovery four years ago and he has a bunch of talented players under his belt who need to be utilised with a lot more aggression and positive intent to force a productive outcome.

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