Varun Aaron, who retired from red-ball cricket after playing Jharkhand's last Ranji Trophy 2023-34 match against Rajasthan at Jamshedpur in February, has recalled how he planned Alastair Cook's wicket during India's 2014 Test tour of England.

Aaron played nine Test matches for India between 2011 and 2015, and was considered one of the fastest bowlers in the country during his prime. The 34-year-old made his Test debut in November 2011, but got to play his second Test in August 2014 against England in Manchester.   The speedster recalled how Murali Vijay was taken aback after he revealed his plan to dismiss then England captain Alastair Cook. Aaron had planned to bowl a short ball to Cook despite knowing that he was a good puller of the cricket ball. "Also, the Alistair Cook wicket. It was my first wicket on comeback after two and a half years. Everyone knows that Cook is a really good puller of the ball. Me and my very good friend Murali Vijay were having a chat the previous night over dinner. He asked me, 'how are you going to get Cook out?" Varun Aaron said in an interview with BCCI. "I said, I'm going to bounce him out. He was like, what? The team doesn't want that. They've told you to bowl a certain line outside off the stump for Cook. Why don't you just do that? I was like, I just know I'm going to bounce him and get him out. "I had bowled all six balls of the first over to Cook and then off the first ball of my second over, I told myself, it's time to bounce him. Bumped him, it took the edge, and the ball went straight to Pankaj Singh, who had bowled a really good six-over spell to Cook and was unlucky not to dismiss him," he added. 'I am 173rd Test player for India, nobody can take that away from me' Varun Aaron also said playing Test cricket was his best moment in his first-class career which saw him pick 173 wickets in 66 matches. He said nobody can take the fact that he is the 173rd player to play Test cricket for India. "Getting my Test cap. Because there is nothing better than having a number that is yours. Nobody can take that away from me. I am the 173rd player to play Test cricket for India, and that is something that I am going to take with me to my grave," Aaron, who picked 18 wickets in 9 matches, said. Utkarsh Singh Mykhel source: mykhel.com