Former England skipper Alastair Cook felt satisfied after scoring a century in his farewell Test that too in his Final innings. He has expressed his happiness about the fact that he has taken the decision at the right time and he has no intention of reconsidering it.
During the press conference after the stumps on Day 4, Cook said, “You couldn’t have scripted it. Today was one of those days when you’ll forever look back and think wow. It has just been a great week. It (the hundred) absolutely confirms [my decision to retire]. This is not just the culmination of three or four low scores, bad games in a Test series. It’s been something that’s been coming for 12-18 months, not just one bad series or a bit of bad form. It’s time for me – it’s time for my family. To go out on your own terms when your last ever innings for England was a hundred.”
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Describing the moment when he reached the hundred, Alastair said, “I remember cutting it for 97 thinking that’s three more to go. Just as he (Bumrah) let it go I thought, ‘hang on a minute – he launched that pretty hard’. I actually thought it was four straightaway. I didn’t see Pujara running after it so actually, it could have been quite embarrassing if I started celebrating and he actually stopped it and I was on 99. It saved me a lot of heartaches. He’s (Bumrah) also caused e a lot of heartache in this series. For him to then give me that little moment there, I’ll thank him for a while.”
As soon as Cook completed the century, he received an endless standing ovation from the Oval crowd. Talking about the same, he said, “It was just incredible. Rooty was like, ‘hang on a minute, I’ve got some runs to get as well here,’when he was marking his guard and they wouldn’t shut up.” Towards the end of the day, the crowd was chanting Cook’s name, describing the feeling he said, “Then obviously the last 10 minutes as well today was special.”
Cook’s wife, Alice, who was at the ground and coincidentally she is expecting their third child and he reckons that the four days of the Tes have been surreal for him and if his wife goes into labour during before the end of the match, it will become cherry on the cake for him.
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To top it all, even on his Debut Alaatri scored a fifty and a century and similar thing happened in is farewell Test as well and he became the fifth player to do so in his first and last Tests. There was a symmetry to it and the southpaw agreed he feels that all this has been strange for him.
Cook concluded, “There is definitely something missing, even though this was a great day. But it’s always nice people wanting a little bit more than trying to kick you out. To go out on your own terms when your last innings for England was a hundred is special.”
With India struggling at 58-3 while chasing 464, England is expected to seal a 4-1 series victory on Tuesday.
