Woodster
International Captain
Yes I wouldn't disagree with much of that, I don't think Cook is an inspirational enough captain to persevere with him longer than necessary, but I certainly would with his batting.I think you need to look at the number of years someone has been playing International Cricket too.. Everyone kept talking about how Sachin seemed shot during his rough patches in the mid 2000s. I honeslty believe it was those breaks he took from the game now and then that helped him remain at that level... I think Lara suffered a bit because of that, captaining the side quite a bit during his career... Dravid always says that all captains have a shelf life and maybe the years of ODI captaincy coupled with the kind of form his test team went through in Australia are playing on Cook's mind... As others have pointed out, it will be good for him to hand over the test match reigns too and get back to being a player at some point, maybe after the next Ashes.
However, back on the topic of Murali Vijay, I love watching him bat, his style is so easy on the eye and he has real substance to his style as well. I think he can go on and become a top opening bat over time, already scoring centuries in alien conditions is a great sign.