Why Alastair Cook's retirement couldn't have come at a better time

Though Alastair Cook's retirement comes as a surprise to most of the cricketing fraternity, a close look at his and his team's track record in the last couple of years would just tell you why his retirement could not have come at a better time. For a man who has won his country several laurels over a 12-year career, he isn't one who would let blemishes overshadow his achievements.

Alastair Cook has been instrumental in reviving England's Test dominance - something that was missing for the last two decades prior to his entry. England is one of the most respected Test match teams, but a drawn series in Bangladesh, and consecutive series losses while travelling - against India, Australia and New Zealand - were reasons that triggered his retirement.

Though England earned a poor travelling team's tag during this phase, his team's victory in his last series should leave him satisfied. A century at Oval, the venue for this series' and his last Test match, would be an icing on the cake.

His peak form was behind him

Cook's peak form was certainly behind him. In fact, even average form had eluded him in the last couple of years as he wasn't able to convert starts into hundreds. His two double centuries towards the end of 2017 were like an oasis in the middle of a desert. Also, Cook did not possess the greatest of techniques - he was not always comfortable against a full length, swinging ball. It wasn't his technique but his resolve that made him frustrate bowling attacks.

He has averaged just 18.62 in nine Test matches this year, and has not been able to even touch 30 in any of the innings in the ongoing series against India so far. He is not one who would like to hang around at the mercy of others, and hence this proves to be a wise decision.

Achieved a lot as a cricketer

While defeating all Test teams that visited England during his career, Alastair Cook was part of visiting teams that defeated Australia, New Zealand, India, Bangladesh and South Africa. His brightest moment as a batsman would be the Ashes tour to Australia in 2010-11, where his 766 runs ensured a handsome 3-1 series victory down under, a feat England hasn't been able to replicate for a decade before and after that victory.

As captain, his finest victory was a 2-1 Test series victory in India in 2012-13, a feat their team achieved after 28 years. During the last three decades or so, India has been near invincible at home, even great Test captains like Ricky Ponting, Graeme Smith and Steve Waugh have not been able to secure a Test series victory in India during their tenure. As a one-day captain, he led England to the ICC Champions Trophy final in 2013, where the team narrowly lost the rain-reduced final by just five runs.

Cook even scored five ODI hundreds, but unfortunately, never make it to England's World Cup squad. Alastair Cook played the second most consecutive number of Test matches for his team, and the Oval Test would be his 159th consecutive Test match for England since 11 May 2006. Phewww...ages ago that was.

Not one who played for records

Almost two years ago, before coming to India, talks were that he would leave behind Sachin Tendulkar's Test record of 51 hundreds. Before coming to India in November 2016, Cook had 29 hundreds from 135 Tests and he was just 31 years old. Though that tour began with a bang, with Cook surpassing Sir Donald Bradman's tally of 30 Test centuries, the next four matches in the series proved to be disastrous, as Cook could not score another hundred and England lost all the matches in the series.

But his last 24 Test matches have just fetched him 3 Test centuries. Cook has not scored a single Test century in his nine Test matches this year, which is quite rare. Also, he wasn't going to be the part of the upcoming World Cup and has not featured in any of the world's T20 cricketing leagues, although he has a T20 Century in England's domestic T20 tournament.

That said, his retirement has come in at just the right time and we wish him a great life ahead. His cricketing insights and powerful personality would certainly turn heads for a long time to come. Indeed.