I think Cook is pretty set on captaining for a few years to come: Joe Root

The England team might not be in the best of the positions having lost a string of games in the subcontinent first against Bangladesh and then two of the three in India. Barring skipper Alastair Cook and star batsman Joe Root the unit is inexperienced and cannot be really blamed for not getting their act together in the subcontinent though they were expected to do well. Despite what has happened Root believes Cook can carry on leading the Test team for another few years.

Defeats in the final two games against India in Mumbai and Chennai would condemn England to a 4-0 thrashing, and lift their tally to eight losses this year, the same as in the dark days of 1984, 1986 and 1993.

“He is coping all right,” said Root. “He is very professional. I imagine it must be quite tough being away from a new child and family.

“You could put a lot of blame on Cooky, but actually it is the responsibility of the batters to make those big scores. You can blame whoever you want, but we have to take responsibility for our own game.”

If England face defeats in the last two Tests, the series will end as 4-0 in favor of the hosts and will equal the English team’s worst performance in a calendar year losing 8 Tests which has happened only thrice in the history in 1984, 1986 and 1993.

“I think he is pretty set on captaining for a few years to come,” said Root. “I hope he does, because I think he is a brilliant leader and I’ve really enjoyed playing under him.”

Talking about accepting the responsibility himself the 25-year-old said, “I’m quite happy with my role at the moment, and you want to do what is right for the side.

“Honestly, I think he is the right man. Hopefully, we get these results we want in the last two games and we can put right what has been quite a frustrating last couple of weeks.”

The wickets for the last couple of games at Vizag and Mohali weren’t rank turners and were decent surfaces for the batsmen to get the runs. But England missed out on capitalizing and that is what hurt them the most. “We haven’t got it right in the last two games,” said Root. “We’ve shown we can do it, because we did it in the first game. But if we want to stay in this series, we need to get big runs early on.”

Haseeb Hameed who was the shining star for them has suffered a fractured finger and is forced to fly back home for surgery. Talking about Hameed Root said, “We had a chat at the end of the game. The only advice I gave was make sure you don’t go back to county cricket at the start of the summer and rest on your laurels and don’t think ‘I’m a Test cricketer now.”

“It’s an opportunity to prove to everyone in county cricket that you are there for a reason. You have opportunities to make some really big scores, and keep learning and improving.

“The way he goes about his business in training, and the way he has held himself around the side, has been remarkable.” He concluded