At the end of his international career, English opening batsman Alastair Cook has claimed that Kevin Pietersen’s sack was the regretful decision that hurt the English cricket.
Prior to his last international cricket match, which is the last Test of the five-match home Test series against India at The Oval (London) starting from this Friday (September 7), Cook took the press conference and recalled his regretful involvement as captain to sack one of the important cricketers, Kevin Pietersen.
Cook said, “The KP affair was a tough year, no doubt about that. The fallout wasn’t great for English cricket, it wasn’t great for me. I was involved in that decision without making the final decision. It could have been handled differently, and I have regret over it because it wasn’t good for English cricket.”
Cook further added that he was happy to remain in the captaincy after the home series defeat against Sri Lanka in 2014. Soon after that, they won the home Test series against India and regained the Ashes series in 2015 at home.
Cook said about that, “When it was real tough, I didn’t throw the towel in. I still believed I was the best man for the job. I could have taken the easy option, but the team got the reward with the Ashes in 2015, which was brilliant.”
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After winning the last Test against India at Southampton, Cook announced to take retirement from the international cricket at the end of the ongoing home Test series against India. However, the left-handed English opening batsman has now revealed that it was working in his mind in last six months.
Talking about his retirement decision, Cook said, “It’s hard to put into words. Over the last six months, there were signs in my mind this was going to happen. For me, I’ve always had that mental edge. I’ve been mentally incredibly tough. That edge had gone. That stuff I found easy before wasn’t quite there. To me, that was the biggest thing.
“I was a couple of beers in, which I needed to be, otherwise I’d have cried more than I did. I just said it might be sad for some, happy for others, but it’s time, I’ve done my bit. If picked, my next game will be my last game. There was a bit of silence for a bit, then Mo (Moeen Ali) said something, and we all laughed.”
Also read: Graham Gooch calls Alastair Cook ‘a genuine legend’
Talking about his big moments in the international career, Cook picked up winning the Test series in Australia and India. Cook also satisfied with his performances in international cricket.
Cook said, “I can’t really look too far past two away series, in Australia and India, when I was man of the series. That was the best I could play. I can look back at my career as a whole and say I became the best player I could become. That’s mean a lot to me. I’ve never been the most talented player, but I think I got everything out of my ability.”
