Alastair Cook Almost Did Not Play the second India England ODI; Can Play Twenty20!

In a series where Rahul Dravid made his international Twenty20 debut at the age of thirty-eight, it should not have come as much of a surprise that Alastair Cook showed he could play the Twenty20 format after almost backing out of the second India England ODI at the Rose Bowl.

Alastair Cook

The reason the England ODI captain contemplated participating in the second India England ODI was not because of an injury concern. Rather rain and wet outfield made it a long wait before play was finally possible. Although England won the encounter to go up 1-0 in the series that saw the first ODI washed out, the England captain had other things on his mind and no, it was not the Indian bowling attack.

Alastair Cook was not even part of the make up of England’s ODI squad for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. So, there were reservations when he was appointed as the England captain for the fifty overs format. Cook, however, remained defiant that he was not merely a Test cricket specialist and that there could be versatility about his international cricket career graph. That Cook even got the opportunity to not only play the ODI format but also, earned the faith of the selectors to captain the team after Andrew Strauss has been attributed to the rich vein of form Cook has found himself in, particularly in the Ashes where he showed tremendous qualities.

Cook though had a dilemma on his mind for the second ODI because the rain and the delay reduced the match to twenty-three overs a side. While the issue of whether the ODI match should then have got the status of ODI or Twenty20 was being debated outside the cricket field, for Cook, there was the conundrum of whether he wanted to play in the shortened version of the ODI match or whether he should have stepped aside to call forth a Twenty20 specialist.

As it turned out, Cook decided to grab the opportunity with both hands and make it count. If anything, Cook overcame the perception of his not being a Twenty20 player – Stuart Broad in England’s Twenty20 captain and Cook is not even in the squad – by playing an innings that not only carried England to the finish line but also, showed that Cook could adapt rather well to the shorter formats with the fluency of playing Test cricket. His critics and his team mate such as Graeme Swann may be debating whether Cook’s shots are as handsome as he is. What cannot be denied though that Cook made a great case for how a batsman attuned to the longest format of the sport can adapt to the shorter formats with the strength of his technique, fortitude and confidence.

However, Cook has been on a purple patch and it would seem that by making perhaps one of the boldest decisions thus far in his leadership capacity, he has done his chances no harm, particularly with England being the reigning ICC World Twenty20 champions and with the ICC World Twenty20 2012 coming up soon when England have to defend that title. Is Cook knocking once more on the door of the selectors?