England captain Alastair Cook has claimed that Joe Root is "ready" to succeed him.
Before the Test series against India, Cook indicated that he could step down as skipper in the near future, but he has maintained that he will sit down with ECB director of cricket Andrew Strauss at the end of the year.
Questions over the batsman's captaincy have been raised following England's series defeat to India, who romped to victory in the fourth Test after taking four wickets in half an hour to seal it by an innings and 36 runs.
Root currently stands as vice-captain and has led just two warm-up fixtures in Bangladesh and captained Yorkshire on three occasions, but Cook believes that he is good enough to take over now.
"I think Joe Root's ready to captain England," The Guardian quotes Cook as saying. "You never know until you actually experience it, because of everything that goes with the England captaincy. You're thrown in at the deep end and you either sink or swim. Nothing can really prepare you for it.
"But he's ready because he's a clued-on guy and he's got the respect of everyone in the changing room. He hasn't got much captaincy experience, but that doesn't mean he can't be a very good captain. Being captain of England is a huge honour, a huge privilege."
In his last 10 as captain, Cook has lost two Test series.
