NAGPUR, March 4: England opening batsman Alastair Cook basked in his achievement after scoring a century on debut in the first Test against India on Saturday. “It hasn’t sunk in yet,” he told journalists. “I’m delighted, words can’t describe what I feel at the moment.”

The 21-year-old Essex left-hander stroked 104 not out after arriving as a last minute replacement for captain Michael Vaughan, who is injured and vice-captain Marcus Trescothick, who has returned home for personal reasons.

Cook travelled half the globe to reach Nagpur after being summoned from the A tour of West Indies. He said it had been the most unbelievable week of his life.

“Unreal I think,” he said. “It’s extraordinary and I’m just enjoying the moment.”

Cook showed class and temperament to master a slow Nagpur pitch after scoring 60 in the first innings.

He anchored the second innings to 297 for three to give the injury-depleted tourists a potentially match-winning lead of 367 with one day left.

Cook rode his luck, dropped on 70 and 91. “You need a bit of luck and you need to make the most of it,” he said. “Luckily it was my day.”

The youngster said his mentors such as former England captain Graham Gooch, the Essex head coach, had advised him to keep things simple.

“People give me advice,” he said. “But at the end of the day all they kept saying was it is the same bat and ball game.”

Cook felt that having to take two long-haul flights out of the Caribbean to reach Nagpur on Sunday night, two days before the Test, had hardly given him any time to worry.

The opener has been regarded an England prospect since his schooldays. He captained the under-19 World Cup squad in Dhaka two years ago, scoring two hundreds to guide the team to semi-finals.

He then capped a prolific 2005 season for Essex by scoring a double hundred against the visiting Australians.

Cook said: “It did convince me that I could score against the best in the world.”—Reuters