Twitter calls for Alastair Cook's retirement

Alastair Cook has had some glorious days for the English team. From scoring back to back tons to making the most epics comebacks, the 33-year-old has been privy to one of the most admired cricketing careers in the long list of England batsmen in recent times. But is the sun finally about to set on the stylish southpaw’s career?

The debate over Cook’s ability to continue his Test career has been raging for quite some time now. Repeated failures coupled with some visible shortcomings in his technique have only added fuel to this fire. The batsman’s yet another failure against India in the third Test at Trent Bridge has set Twitter churning, speculating over an imminent retirement.

Cook fails yet again to make a mark

Batting second at Trent Bridge after having dismissed India for a total of 329 runs in the first innings, England had been looking comfortable in the first session of the second day owing to a budding partnership between the two openers, Keaton Jennings and Alastair Cook. The Indian pacers took some time to get it right with the new ball and the English batsmen looked comfortable at the crease, to say the least.

However, it was Ishant Sharma who had the last laugh! Having been dropped by Cheteshwar Pujara only 2 deliveries before, this time around keeper Rishabh Pant didn’t make the same mistake as he held on to the ball Cook pushed out and ended up edging into the waiting gloves of the young debutante. This dismissal set tongues wagging all over, considering such a dismissal has become all too frequent to be pardoned for a batsman of Cook’s calibre.

The figures don’t seem too uplifting for Cook either. At Trent Bridge alone, the batsman has had a dismal record till date, with an abysmal average of 22.25 in the 18 innings that he’s played. He has only one half-century to his name on the venue. Further, the man bowling against him also had a clear upper-hand on him, show the statistics.

Out of the 498 deliveries that Ishant has bowled to Cook, he’s been able to extract 10 dismissals and maintain a whopping 83.30% of dot balls, indicating a severe chasm in the left-hander’s technique.

Here’s what Twitter had to say: