India vs England: Alastair Cook still remains great captain material, says Andrew Strauss

Alastair Cook's batting record has never been in doubt – he is undoubtedly one of England's greatest ever batsmen. When it comes to his captaincy, though, a lot more questions and doubts immediately creep in.

Try as he might, Cook has never quite been able to shed the "oh he is too conservative a captain" tag, which is one of the reasons he was unceremoniously dumped as the team's ODI captain.

However, Cook remains the skipper for the Test team, and while England might have suffered some forgettable losses during his tenure, there have been plenty of memorable ones too. While the first Test against India in Rajkot was not a victory, Cook covered himself in glory again by letting his bat talk, with his captaincy pretty good for much of the contest.

How long the left-hander will remain at the helm is a question to be asked, especially considering the natural leaders that England seem to have at the moment. Joe Root looks the heir apparent, but Ben Stokes could be a really great captain and if Jos Buttler can force his way back into the Test squad, he showed in the ODI series against Bangladesh, that he has some captaincy skills as well.

All that is without counting Eoin Morgan, who has revolutionised England's limited-overs teams, even if, again, he is not a part of the long format at the moment.

Despite the players waiting in the wings, Andrew Strauss, the director of England cricket, does not see Cook stepping down as Test captain anytime soon.

"From what I've seen he is in a really good place," Strauss said. "I think he is very comfortable leading this team as he has been for a while now, so it probably takes less out of him now than it used to.

"He's batting well and he's still young. It is quite scary how young he is really and I have every faith that he will carry on past this series and into the summer.

"Every indication he has given me is he is driven, he's passionate, he's motivated, he's loving this environment and he's excited about some of the young players coming through, and that is not a bad place for him to be."

Cook will be out of the international game for six months after the India Test series ends in December, owing to the fact that the 31-year-old is not considered anymore for the white ball formats. Could something change during that time, especially if Root shows more signs of leadership?

"It is always dangerous to look too far ahead in this game," Strauss added. "My gut feeling at the moment is that there is benefit in him carrying on past this series definitely. But a lot of it comes down to where he is at and what his motivation is and how the team is developing.

"We're sitting here right now and it looks to be in a good place but who knows where we will be in three Tests time or in seven Tests time."