Alastair Cook had become “drained” as England Test captain, says England’s director of cricket Andrew Strauss.

Cook stepped down after a record 59 matches in charge.

“He was getting drained by the relentlessness of being England captain,” Strauss said.

Strauss added that vice-captain Joe Root would be a strong candidate to take over but refused “to rule anyone in or out of the role”.

Cook is England’s highest run-scorer in Test cricket with 11,057, while his 140 Test appearances and 30 centuries are also national records.

But the Essex batsman had been considering his future as captain after his side suffered a 4-0 Test series defeat in India last year.

And Strauss said the 32-year-old had taken time to come to his decision.

“We know it has been a tough winter and it was an obvious time for him to step back and reflect and consider and have thoughts about what was right for the team moving forwards,” he said.

“In my conversations with him in January it became clear that Alastair felt a huge amount of energy, drive and determination was needed to drive the team forward over the next 12 months.

“You are the only one who knows how much gas you have left in the tank and how much the many demands of being England captain are taking out of you.

“He feels it is time for new blood, new impetus and fresh thinking and allow someone else to take over and do that.”

West Indies beat Australia by by four wickets with 26 balls to spare at Warner Park, St Kitts. Put into bat, Australia scored 265 for 7 with Usman Khawaja (98), Steve Smith (74) and George Bailey (55) all scoring half-centuries.

In reply, the hosts knocked off the runs for the loss of six wickets with Marlon Samuels scoring a handsome 92.

Australia still head the table with two wins from four matches plus a bonus point. The West Indies also have two wins but from three games. And South Africa have one win from three matches, that came with a bonus point.

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India’s limited-overs series against Zimbabwe is not as big as facing England, Australia or South Africa. Apart from the involvement of MS Dhoni in the series, there is not much hype or excitement for the three ODIs and as many T20s that the Indian team would be playing in the African nation.

Despite all that, the series has its own importance in many ways. The most important of those is the presence of youngsters, such as KL Rahul, Manish Pandey and others. Dhoni is set to lead the future of Indian cricket in Zimbabwe, making it a very important series for Team India.

Performances of players like Pandey and Rahul, in particular, will be observed closely, as in the limited outings with the Indian team they have managed to stamp their mark. Rahul, who has been rewarded for his impressive IPL season, will be making his debut in the shorter format of the game.

Rahul, for record, is currently the only player in the Indian setup that is playing all three formats of the game. He has two Test hundred, both overseas, to his credit in Test cricket, and this is the first time he is a part of the Indian ODI and T20 squad.

Young batting hopes of India: KL Rahul and Manish Pandey

“In the batting department we know how Manish Pandey played that dazzling knock in Sydney against Australia and won us that game,” India coach Sanjay Bangar said. “We then have Kedar Jadhav and Ambati Rayudu, who both scored a century in the tour of Zimbabwe. KL Rahul has made a mark in the IPL and has had success in the past with the Indian Test team.”

There is not an iota of doubt that India team has a talented bunch of players, but at the same time lack of experience could hurt them. Zimbabwe are no pushovers, especially at home, they are a resilience unit and knows the conditions well, which could fell against India.

Captain Dhoni, meanwhile, has pointed out that finding the right combination is going to be challenging. Dhoni hasn’t played with most of the players in the current squad, and in a short series that only has six matches – three one-dayers and three T20s – it is important to field a strong squad right from the first match itself.

“You keep playing with almost the same group of players,” Dhoni said. “So you almost know the roles and responsibilities and what each player’s strengths are. There will be quite a few players in this bilateral series with whom I’ll be playing for the first time.”

The last time India toured Zimbabwe they blanked them in the one-day series, and also won the T20 series. Team India is heading as favorites this time too, but they will be banking majorly on Dhoni’s experience and leadership skills.

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ODI captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni might be hailed as the greatest captain by many but Maninder Singh disagrees. According to the former Indian cricketer most Indian bowlers have suffered because of Dhoni.

The former left-arm spinner questions Dhoni’s tactics while playing away from India. A Glint.tv exclusive!