Cook feels England has several captaincy candidates to replace him
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Alastair Cook, who stepped down from England’s Test captaincy, believes that Joe Root is among several candidates who can replace him as the skipper. However, pacer James Anderson is confident that Root is the "obvious candidate" for the post, but said that the role must not affect his batting.
Cook relinquished the Test captaincy of the England team that he led for over four years after coming under a lot of criticism following England’s 4-0 drubbing at the hands of India.
While Joe Root is expected to be a shoo-in for the role, Cook feels that his former deputy is one among several able candidates who can take up the challenge.Â
 "He's got a huge amount of respect in the dressing room, but there's other people as well,”
Cook
Praising Root, Cook told Sky Sports, "He's got a huge amount of respect in the dressing room, but
"I think Ben Stokes has got a leadership role at some stage, the way he's improved and matured as a cricketer and he's one of those people that people gravitate to, he's got that personality.
"Jonny Bairstow has taken big steps, Jos Buttler did a good job in Bangladesh, so we're very lucky there is a good group of people pushing it forward. Whoever gets it, it's one of the greatest jobs you'll ever do."
The Essex batsman, who has scored 11,057 runs from 140 Test matches, said, "It wouldn't be fair to the team or myself to do it at 95 per cent and it's not a job you can do at that level.Â
Under Cook, England won two Ashes series and won overseas Test series in South Africa and India. Now, free from the captaincy duty, Cook said that he is excited to play under the new skipper.Â
"After four or five years of doing it, things just change and ultimately I think the team for the last year
"As captain, you are part of that and I think it will be good for the team to have a new voice driving things on in a slightly different way. There's a huge amount of talent in that dressing room and I hope to be still part of it and lead in a slightly different way. I'm excited about that challenge."
While Cook put Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, and Jos Buttler in the blend to be the captain of the side, England pace
"Root is fairly quiet but he has got that fire in his belly. He's a really impressive young man," Anderson told The Tuffers and Vaughan Cricket Show.
"Root gets into situations, one-on-ones, with people. He speaks a lot of sense when he does speak and he's a really impressive young man," explained Anderson.
"He's the obvious candidate. The decision is a big one because he's our best player, so you obviously don't want that to be affected."
