MUMBAI: The writing is on the wall for Alastair Cook as England plunged to their third straight Test defeat of the tour on Monday.
The England Test captain is under considerable pressure to hand over the crown to Joe Root and Cook admitted that the Yorkshireman was ready for the job.
“Joe Root is ready to captain England. You never know until you actually experience it. The whole thing that comes with the England captaincy . You are thrown in at the deep end and you kind of sink or swim. It is as simple as that. Nothing can prepare you for it. He is ready because he is a clued up guy , he has the respect of everyone in the changing room. He has not got much captaincy experience but that does not mean everything,“ said Cook after England tasted their seventh Test defeat of the year, including one against Bangladesh.
Cook rued the fact that there weren't any world class spinners in his camp. England had picked four spinners for the tour of Bangladesh and India, including the 39-year-old Gareth Batty , who until last year was playing in the Masters Champions League in the UAE.
The defeat to Bangladesh had clearly rankled Cook & Co and what's strange is that England chose to stick with the same squad for their 12-week tour of the sub-continent when they had the options to redraw plans.
Looking back at their previous visit in 2012 here, when everything they did worked for them, Cook said, “No disrespect to Moeen (Ali) and Adil Rashid but Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar were world class bowlers in 2012. In these conditions you need that. Mo and Rash have bowled well but they are not yet in that league of Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar. I do not mean that disrespectfully at all and that is why we need a slightly different balance to the side. In 2012 we could play the four bowlers, two seamers and two spinners, but in this side we need more options.“