Alastair Cook describes last Test as the most surreal one

Cook, who made his debut against India and scored a hundred back in 2006, also scored a hundred in his last Test innings at the Oval in the fifth and final Test match of the ongoing home series against the same opponents, on Sunday. He scored 147 off balls in the second innings of the game before getting out to part-timer Hanuma Vihari.

After his dismissal, all Indian players came up to congratulate him for his amazing Test career and he received a never-ending standing ovation from the packed house at The Oval. This could have been the ideal way to finish a glittering career and Cook reiterated the same in the post-match press conference. 

“It has been the most surreal four days of my life. Incredible,” he said. “It’s just one of those days where you’ll forever look back and think, ‘Wow’,” told Cook and The Telegraph reported.

“There was definitely a lump in my throat at the start and I did shed a tear. Ever since I announced my retirement, I hoped to have a good week here, but to top it off with a score was just incredible. Sometimes dreams do come true.”

Cook remained focused throughout the second innings bringing up his 33rd Test hundred and it needed some nerves to pull off such a feat when he was batting for the final time in international cricket. Cook has garnered 12472 runs in his Test career from 161 games.

“My greatest skill is to be able to take a lot of emotion out of my bating and to be able to take one ball at a time, and if there has ever been a test of that, it has been this week. To perform like that probably just shows my greatest strength,” the former English skipper said. 

Speaking about his decision to retire from Test cricket, the 33-year-old said, “This has been an 18-month ongoing process from the start of the West Indies series last year, when I started noticing things in my game and preparation were missing. It doesn’t mean you haven’t got it sometimes and when it’s your day, you can still score runs. But there is definitely something missing, even though this was a great day. The timing is right and just makes this even more special. It is always nice people wanting more than trying to kick you out.”