Is Alastair Cook retiring too early?

Alastair Cook has been a name to reckon with in English cricket. He has arguably been their best opener and is their highest run-getter. Always known for his long innings and 'the cricketer who never sweats'; the prolific cricketer, however, decided to bring down the curtains on his cricket career after the completion of the ongoing Test series against India. Personally, he still had 3-5 years of cricket left in him.

The decision of retirement looks more of a forced one due to his poor run in recent times. In the last ten innings, he has only one half-century to his name (70 against Pakistan at Lord's). Apart from this, he has struggled to get going. Cook, however, had two double-hundreds last year (243 vs WI and 244* vs Aus) and a couple of the fifties to his name. But, it was his inconsistency that came under the scanner and started hurting the team. He had the backup from the team management; both the captain and the coach were in favor of Cook everytime, but, it was fetching them nothing.

Even at the start of this series, everyone had their eyes on Cook's performance. It was obvious that it is going to be a tough series for him and his career ahead. He, however, failed here as well and the word was out of dropping him from the team. But, Cook did the unexpected by announcing his retirement from the game after serving it for over a decade. Mounting over 12,000 Test runs and 32 Test centuries in 160 matches, he possibly looked the only player to surpass the 15,000 runs landmark of the great Sachin Tendulkar.

As the world says goodbye to this wonderful cricketer, let's take a moment to appreciate him for being such a great ambassador of the game. Thank you, Chef!