Should Cook Step Down From Captaincy?

Alastair Cook was under huge pressure to leave charge of the English team after a humiliating return Ashes debacle, and this pressure will probably mount on him if they lose the ongoing Test to Sri Lanka, which looks quite evitable. Some poor performances from England in recent past have escalated the debate that ‘Is Cook really worthy of leading the English side or not?’ Moreover his consistent failures with the bat has added fuel to this debate. Even his tactics are not going well with many experts. He is really looking in disarray, the way Moeen Ali was running from long leg to long leg on both ends after every over and everytime a right hander and a left hander rotated strike showed that he was not even able to manage his field and fielders. 

Cook was just breaking all records till England’s tour to India where he captained first time on a full time basis and won the historic series. He lead from the front and applied himself with the bat and guided England to 2-1 victory. Surely the presence of Graeme Swann and Panesar helped him as well, but his own average in the series was over 80. Thereafter he did well against the Kiwis both at home and away. But, it all started to fall apart for him, though England retained the Ashes at home in convincing fashion Cook did not do well with the bat, and when they went to Australia for the return Ashes, poor form with the bat did not help him as the Aussies were better prepared to treat the guests. 

Cook, averages only 39 as a captain in 21 matches since he took full time charge, against his career average of 47, and even if we exclude the Indian tour it even drops down to 30. Certainly, captaincy has taken a toll on his batting, he is the youngest to reach the 7k run mark in Test cricket, but he has only scored around 1,000 runs his last 17 Tests as captain. 

When he said that the English dressing room is a much better place without KP after his axing from the team, it raised many eyebrows and people believed a leader should be in control of the team and he should be a good manager so that he can bring out the best from the available resources. And KP being one of the best batsmen available for England today, the onus was on Cook to make KP realize his importance as a batsman for the team. 

Cook obviously has a persona by which he can transmit the energy but with his bad patch with the bat, it is most likely that he will transmit negative energy. When he performs, he does it so effortlessly that it inspires others automatically. But after accepting all the criticism we should not forget that in Australia, Trott probably their most reliable batsman returned home just after the first Test due to stress, Swann announced his retirement in middle of the series and irresponsible batting from the others were also the factors which caused a big loss for England. They were so close to winning the first Test against Sri Lanka recently and the match ended in a draw and I couldn’t figure out a single mistake from Cook’s part. 

This is probably the first time that Cook has seen such a prolonged poor form ever since his century on debut against India. But amidst this poor form he has managed to score some good fifties and also got some healthy starts which he was unable to convert. I think, it is just a matter of time that Cook comes back to his blissful best. He has captained England in only six series including the ongoing one against Sri Lanka. 

He should be given one more chance to prove himself as captain for the series against an inexperienced India at home. England will play 5 Tests against the Asian giants who have not won a Test match outside their home since 2011 and this could be the best chance for Cook and co to revive as a team. The Indian team under Dhoni is not really looking a very formidble side and this should be taken as an opportunity by Cook to once again not only get back into form but also to bring back England from the dumps. So, the simple answer to the question, should Cook step down from captaincy would be not now. But yes, these five Tests will surely determine what would be his future as England’s Test captain.