No captain has ever had an impact like Ben Stokes: Alastair Cook | Cricket News – Times of India

Cook himself feels he might not have fitted into the current England team for the way they play their cricket.

“Maybe Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum would have liked to play a different player, or I would have had to play differently to get into the Test team. But that’s fine, because the effect that these guys are having on English cricket is phenomenal.
“They are breaking down barriers of Test cricket, scoring seven runs in an over in a session against a superb Australian attack, which is unheard of,” Cook told TOI ahead of England’s fifth Test against Australia at the Oval, which starts on Thursday.

The Ashes has already been retained by Australia courtesy a rain-marred draw at Old Trafford, where England completely dominated for three days. But the hosts can still make a memorable comeback in the series if they level scores with a win in the last Test.

Cook attributes this exceptional England show, where they have been supremely competitive in all the four Tests, to the aggressive ‘Bazball’ approach, the quality of English batting and Stokes’ captaincy skills.
“The effect of Brendon (McCullum; coach) and Stokes has been extraordinary. With the same set of players who won only once in 17 games, England have now won 13 out of 16. It has been the biggest mental and technical shift that has happened on the cricket field and the way it has freed up the players like Duckett, Joe Root, Crawley is unbelievable. An environment has been created where making mistakes is fine, as long as you are trying to be positive and entertaining,” Cook, who captained England in 59 Tests and won 24 of those, said.

The left-hander was part of four Ashes series wins, including two as captain. But for Cook, Stokes’ captaincy has ushered in a change that is incomparable.
“Stokes once told me, ‘What’s the difference between trying to defend and nicking to the ’keeper and trying to score runs and getting caught in the outfield? Both are getting out’. That’s the way he thinks and he has been able to make his players think on similar lines. I have seen no captain ever having an impact like Stokes. But I don’t want to get carried away because he still has a lot of years left in him and a captain should be judged only at the end of his stint,” Cook added.
All this hype around positivity and aggression from the English batters will face its biggest test when they come to India early next year. Many have felt Bazball is a ‘good-pitch strategy’ and it is bound to falter on pitches where the ball is going to turn from the word go.
But Cook said, “The England team under me lost 0-4 in India. After that, Root’s team lost 1-3. Yes, they will play in a completely different way this time when they go and they might still lose against the quality of R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. But they will have nothing to lose and I can guarantee you, they won’t die wondering.”

Method in Root’s madness
One player who made his debut under Cook but has undergone a virtual paradigm shift in his batting has been Joe Root. A classical old-school right-hander till 2021, the Yorkshireman is now ready to play the reverse scoop against a pacer off the first ball of his innings in Test cricket.
“Root has always been an extraordinary player. Sometimes I used to get frustrated playing with him because he came in to bat when I was batting in my 30s and in no time he was ahead of me. But playing this new way has given a new impetus to his career. Root has found his method and balance. One would like to think that the reverse scoop he plays is a limited-overs shot. But it is actually most effective against the length ball, a delivery that is rarely bowled in the latter stages of white-ball cricket.

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“So here also, there is a method in the madness,” the master left-hander said.
According to Cook, even World Test champions Australia have looked “timid” on occasion in the ongoing Ashes.
“They have retained the Ashes all right, but had it not been for the rain, we would probably have gone to the fifth Test 2-2. But at the Oval, England have a very good chance of levelling it, and I sincerely feel they deserve more out of this series.”