JOE ROOT set off for India yesterday still awaiting a formal decision on whether he will soon be England's new Test captain.
Alastair Cook, after four years and a record 59 matches, remains in post at present, but has been pondering his future since a 4-0 series defeat in India before Christmas.
Yorkshire batsman Root, 26, became a father for the first time on Saturday, delaying his departure for the limited-overs series which begins in Pune on Sunday. But any hopes of having the issue resolved before he set off have passed. Root is due to land in Mumbai in the early hours of this morning (IST) and could conceivably take the field in a warm-up match against India A within a matter of hours.
Cook will meet his old opening partner and current ECB director of cricket Andrew Strauss soon to complete the usual post-series debrief, with his own leadership a pressing issue.
There is no appetite at the ECB to force Cook's hand and the repeated refrain is that the decision is Cook's to make and, with no Test cricket until July, there is no hard deadline.
It is understood that Cook has not sought counsel from senior team-mates, but his status can only diminish if he leaves the question open for weeks or months.
Root will lead his country and even Cook has admitted his deputy is ready to do so, but the elder player has held on after wobbles before, notably after the 2013/14 Ashes whitewash.
Even Neil Fairbrother, the former England and Lancashire batsman who now works as director of cricket at ISM, the management company who look after Root as well as several of his international team-mates, believes Cook could yet recommit to the role.
In a blog dated January 3, Fairbrother wrote: "Alasdair Cook (sic) is not only a fantastic Test match batsman with a stubborn streak for scoring runs, he is also capable, as we have already seen, of picking himself up, dusting himself down and moving forward when all seems lost.
"As time goes forward into January, and no doubt the captain's pain is receding by the day, I guess it less and less likely that he may retire from tossing the coin."
Whether it is Cook or Root who will flip with Faf du Plessis when South Africa visit Lord's in July remains to be seen and while one deliberates, the other waits.
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