Former England captain Alastair Cook, on Monday, announced retirement from all forms of international cricket. The Oval Test against India will be his last international match.
Cook's batting - unyielding and determined - has been the cornerstone of England's dominance in the five-day format. He has 12,254 runs from 160 Tests at 44089, including 56 fifties and 32 hundreds and was for long, touted as the most likely candidate to break all of Sachin Tendulkar's Test records.
However, his form has been under question off late. In the four Tests against India this year, he has a meagre 109 runs at 15.57. That said, Cook is not new to loss of form. 2015 was a rough year for the Essex batsman - not only had he been dropped from the ODI side, he had gone two long years without a single Test century.
But he returned with renewed vigour, amassing 3,533 runs in 42 Tests between 2015-17 at an average of 47.74, including seven hundreds and 17 half-centuries. In 2015, Cook had surpassed Graham Gooch to become England's highest Test runscorer.
“After much thought and deliberation over the last few months I have decided to announce my retirement from international cricket at the end of this Test series against India,” Cook said. “Although it is a sad day, I can do so with a big smile on my face knowing I have given everything and there is nothing left in the tank.”
Interestingly, Cook had made his international debut against India in Nagpur in 2006.
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