Captain Cook the man to lead us to victory says Gooch

England have already pulled off a “monumental” achievement to lead their Test series in India 2-1 – and in captain Alastair Cook have the right man to ensure they finish the job in Nagpur.

Cook has led from the front spectacularly already, with three hundreds in successive Tests culminating in his English record-breaking 23rd in the seven-wicket victory at Eden Gardens.

Graham Gooch, batting coach and mentor to his one-time Essex protege, knows from his own experience as a Test opener it is folly simply to predict more of the same.

All runs in international cricket are hard-earned, a fact personified in Cook’s renowned diligence and determination every time he goes out to bat.

If anyone, however, can simply keep churning out the runs – as he so famously did in England’s historic Ashes victory in Australia two winters ago – it is the new England captain.

So far, Cook has batted for more than 26 hours in this series and racked up almost 550 runs.

It speaks volumes too for an iron will to carry on interminably that he was so dismayed after his bizarre run-out in Kolkata – even though he had a man-of-the-match 190 under his belt at the time.