Tributes for retiring Alastair Cook were so serious that cricketer’s friend thought he is no more
The 33-year-old cricketer was no less affected by the seriousness of the tributes that rushed in once he announced his retirement plans.
Sometimes, the fans’ overdo things and it creates more problems for their heroes than convenience. England opener and former captain Alastair Cook just experienced that. The batsman recently announced that the fifth Test between India and England will be last international engagement and the sudden declaration left the fans stunned. Tributes started pouring in soon after Cook revealed his plan and some of them were so serious that it seemed the batsman hasn’t retired but passed away!
The veteran announced his retirement plans after the conclusion of the fourth Test in Southampton which England won by 60 runs to take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-game series. He said he had “nothing left the tank” after having a very ordinary Test series accumulating just 109 runs in seven innings.
He is England’s highest run-getter in Tests, scoring 12,254 runs in 160 Tests with 32 hundreds and 56 fifties. He has also been the country’s most successful catcher in Tests and has also been the captain to lead in the most number of Tests (59) and the second joint successful one with Andrew Strauss.
The 33-year-old cricketer was no less affected by the seriousness of the tributes that rushed in once he announced his retirement plans. At his final pre-match conference before the Oval Test, Cook said: “One of my friends called me to check I was still alive because some of the tributes made it seem like I was dead!”
David Lloyd felt there was no need for emotional send-offs
Sounds hilarious but it also shows the amount of pressure the players has to live with. The news of Cook’s retirement announcement sparked a debate when former England player David Lloyd opined in a tweet that the cricketer should be dropped for the final Test so that England could find his replacement straight away. The take by Bumble, as Lloyd is nicknamed, found a lot of reactions as people disagreed about not giving Cook his due farewell.
Lloyd still defended his take and also said on one occasion that there was no need to become too emotional while giving a send-off to Cook since the latter was not dead.
For all the latest cricket news and other updates follow CricTracker.
Download Our App