Cook has got a very good chance to surpass Tendulkar: Sunil Gavaskar
Jun 1, 2016 at 6:49 PM
Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar is the latest person who feels that Alastair Cook can surpass Sachin Tendulkar as Test cricket’s all-time leading run scorer.
Cook crossed the 10,000 runs mark in test cricket during the course of his unbeaten 47 as England beat Sri Lanka by nine wickets in the second Test at the Riverside in Chester-le-Street on Monday.
The England skipper, at 31 years and 157 days, also became the youngest batsman to reach the milestone, topping India’s Sachin Tendulkar, who scored his 10,000th run at 31 years and 326 days.
Cook has currently scored 10,042 runs in tests and so he still has some way to go before Tendulkar’s record of 15,921 runs comes into view.
“Well, the big advantage that England always has is that they are always playing a minimum of 11-12 Test matches on an average in a year. In 11-12 Test matches even if you score 50 runs per Test match you are getting about 500 runs every year,” Gavaskar said.
“So over the next 6-7 years, there might be a period when he (Cook) might have a terrific year where he might score 1000 runs so that will certainly give him a chance. He has got age on his side, he is also one of the very fit players. He is less than 32 years and if he plays for 6-8 more years he has got a very good chance,” the legendary batsman told NDTV.
The English captain is only the second opening batsman to cross the 10,000 runs mark in tests after Sunil Gavaskar. Gavaskar said that facing the new ball is a tough task because of the swing bowlers get early in the innings and so Cook’s achievement is even more impressive.
“It definitely does because the ball does swing around a little bit more, the pitches can sometimes a little bit lively. So you are playing in different conditions, different pitches. Playing in England is much more difficult against quality opposition. So I think Alastair Cook certainly deserves a lot of praise for getting there,” he said.
When asked to recollect some legendary batsmen who could not make it to the elite club, Gavaskar said: “Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Viv Richards straightaway come to my mind. Those two are among the greatest. Javed Miandad is another one. He could have got there, the same also for Inzamam-ul-Haq.”