Career timeline of Alastair Cook - A chapter in cricket never to be forgotten

The sun has set on one of the finest careers the gentleman’s game has seen. With a touch of furnace, an abundance of grace and inimitable class, Alastair Cook and his 12-year international stint provided some terrific memories for the fraternity to savour.

The youngster who made his debut against India back in 2006 transcended from a guy to a man with his gobsmacking renditions with the willow and now, he finally calls time on his career. The fraternity was shocked to hear Cook’s announcement and although there was a shower of grief, everyone came together to applaud the genius he was.

He truly was a genius and his statistics speak volumes of his calibre. Always vindicating the trust laid on him by his fans and selectors, Cook has managed to amass over 12,000 runs in his splendid tenure and is the all-time highest run-scorer in their history. In the overall list, he stands 6th, only behind the living legends Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis, Rahul Dravid, Ricky Ponting, and Kumar Sangakkara.

A debut which promised a mesmerizing future

Cook made his debut against India in 2006 at Nagpur. Taking on some very senior spinners like Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble, he managed to dish out the first of many Test centuries which came later. It was a clear indication that he was a special cricketer and with time, he lived up to all the high expectations.

After scoring a fifty in the first innings, he ended up notching 104 runs in the second innings. His knock helped England post a massive target and the hosts just about managed to grab a stalemate.

It was a difficult time for English cricket as they were trying to find a replacement of Marcus Trescothick, who left a huge void in the opening slot. It was a great opportunity for this youngster from Gloucester to make his mark and seal a place in the side, which he eventually did in a grandiose way. With over 1,000 runs in his first calendar year of international cricket, a star had arrived on the English stage and he was no passing cloud.

Cook turns from a promising player to a big name

It didn’t take an awful lot of time for Alastair Cook to become the captain of the English unit. In the 2009 Ashes series, Cook made his first impression on the global platform as he became the vice-captain of the side. In what turned out to be one of the finest Ashes series ever played, he was a pivotal member of the contingent who helped the Three Lions regain the Urn.

But the series which really marked his arrival on the big stage was the 2010/11 Ashes, where he helped his side crush the Aussies Down Under. With a whopping 766 runs in the series, he was a nightmare for the Kangaroos and the world could envisage the enigma he was about to become.

The 2011 World Cup didn’t prove to be as memorable as England would’ve loved as defeats against Bangladesh and Ireland dented their reputation in the limited overs format big time. Subsequently, that added pressure on Andrew Strauss to step down as the captain and there was no one else in the eyes of the selectors to succeed him other than Cook.

A bitter-sweet captaincy stint

One of the biggest achievements of his career as a leader came against India in 2012 when the English side managed to win a series on Indian soil for the first time since 1984/85. Mind-boggling performances from Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Monty Panesar and also the captain himself, helped them script a glorious chapter in their history.

The 2013 Ashes at home was his first as a captain in the iconic event and what he managed to achieve in that series was remarkable. With three wins at the Riverside, Trent Bridge and the Lord’s respectively, England won the series 3-0 and managed to defend the coveted trophy.

But the Ashes which followed in Australia proved to be a nightmare as the home team thrashed them 5-0. Powered by an immortal performance from Mitchell Johnson, the Englishmen looked way too pale and were never a competition to the hosts. This added a lot of pressure on him to step down, but the selectors kept faith in him.

With their standard in the limited overs diminishing rapidly, Cook was removed as the limited-overs captain in 2014 and Eoin Morgan preceded. Below par performance against New Zealand in the same year didn’t help his cause, but the hunger to fight back was palpably growing.

Just the way champions do, he fought back big time and he had some incredible moments to cherish in the 2015 calendar year. Apart from helping England regain the Ashes, he also went past Graham Gooch to become his country’s all-time highest run-scorer.

Landmarks kept coming; Form kept deteriorating

Although Cook was collecting some unattained accolade, his form kept diminishing. He became the first English cricketer to notch 10,000 runs in Test cricket in 2016 and was also the youngest ever to reach there at that point. He clearly was eyeing Sachin Tendulkar’s records, but they still were a long distance away.

Although there was a lot of pressure coming in from fans and experts to drop him, the selectors kept faith in him. He was soon removed as the Test captain in 2017 with Joe Root taking over the mantle. The end was soon approaching as barring a double ton against Australia in the boxing day Test in Melbourne, nothing went well in his way.

Eventually, after a disastrous outing against the Indians, he signed off from international cricket. With just one Test remaining in his career, the English legend would love to add another big score to his tally.

160 Tests, 12,254 runs, 32 centuries, 56 half-centuries, 4 Ashes triumphs as a player (2 as a captain), one Alastair Cook! To say he was an enigma would be an understatement, such was the aura he carried. He certainly was an astonishing chapter in world’s cricketing history.

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