Sachin Tendulkar had become 5^th player to complete 10,000 runs in Test cricket on March 16, 2005 at Kolkata against Pakistan while just few days ago current England Test captain Alastair Cook has also completed his 10,000 Test runs against Sri Lanka on May 30, 2016 at Chester-le-Street and therefore, he became 12^th player overall and 1^st England player to achieve that milestone.

When Alastair Cook completed his 10,000^th Test run at that time he became youngest player to achieve the milestone of completing 10,000 runs in Tests beating Sachin Tendulkar and since then debate has been going all over the world that who is better – Sachin Tendulkar or Alastair Cook? Will Alastair Cook break Sachin Tendulkar’s Test record or not?

Sachin Tendulkar had completed his 10,000 Test runs in his 195^th Tests innings while Cook has completed his 10,000 Test runs in his 229^th Test innings. Here, we have presented statistical comparison of both Alastair Cook and Sachin Tendulkar’s 10,000 Test runs by considering also the stats of test match when both completed their 10,000 Test runs.

Distribution of Cook and Tendulkar’s 10000 Test runs against every nation:

Opposition	Alastair Cook
	M	R	Ave	100s	50s
Australia	30	2117	39.20	4	11
Bangladesh	4	401	66.83	2	0
England
India	20	1735	54.21	5	7
New Zealand	13	1024	44.52	3	4
Pakistan	14	1179	47.16	4	4
South Africa	15	995	35.53	2	7
Sri Lanka	15	1156	50.26	3	6
West Indies	17	1435	57.40	5	8
Zimbabwe

Opposition	Sachin Tendulkar
	M	R	Ave	100s	50s
Australia	21	1859	53.11	7	7
Bangladesh	3	302	151.00	1	0
England	16	1683	76.50	6	8
India
New Zealand	16	1062	48.27	3	5
Pakistan	12	798	44.33	2	5
South Africa	16	1003	37.14	3	3
Sri Lanka	13	1124	80.28	6	3
West Indies	16	1328	57.73	3	7
Zimbabwe	9	918	76.50	3	3

Both Alastair Cook and Sachin Tendulkar’s favourite oppositions are West Indies and Sri Lanka in Tests while both have an average performance against South Africa in Tests. Sachin Tendulkar’s average against England was 76.50 when he completed his 10000 Test runs while similarly Alastair Cook has always liked India as an opposition and his average of 54.21 from 20 Tests proves that. Interesting fact of this comparison is that Alastair Cook has not yet played a single Test against Zimbabwe till this day.

Distribution of Cook and Tendulkar’s 10000 Tests runs in every country:

Country	Alastair Cook
	M	R	Ave	100s	50s
Australia	15	1288	49.53	4	5
Bangladesh	2	`	114.00	2	0
England	70	4995	43.43	12	24
India	8	866	61.85	4	3
New Zealand	6	384	34.90	1	1
Pakistan
South Africa	8	471	31.40	1	3
Sri Lanka	5	435	48.33	1	3
U.A.E.	6	609	55.36	1	3
West Indies	8	652	54.33	2	5
Zimbabwe

Country	Sachin Tendulkar
	M	R	Ave	100s	50s
Australia	12	1029	54.15	4	3
Bangaldesh	3	302	151.00	1	0
England	10	1074	71.60	4	4
India	53	4588	58.82	15	19
New Zealand	8	498	41.50	1	3
Pakistan	7	420	46.66	1	2
South Africa	9	636	42.40	3	1
Sri Lanka	6	670	111.66	4	2
U.A.E.
West Indies	10	620	47.69	1	5
Zimbabwe	4	240	75.00	1	1

Both Cook and Tendulkar are at their best when they play at home while they both particularly liked playing in Australia and Sri Lanka. Both have an average performance in New Zealand as compared to other countries.

Distribution of Cook and Tendulkar’s 10000 Test runs at home, away and neutral venues:

	Alastair Cook
	M	R	Avg	100s	50s
Home	70	4995	43.43	12	24
Away	52	4438	49.31	15	20
Neutral	6	609	55.36	1	3

	Sachin Tendulkar
	M	R	Avg	100s	50s
Home	53	4588	58.82	15	19
Away	69	5489	56.58	19	22
Neutral

Alastir Cook’s performances at home venues are not good as compared to his away and neutral performances while Sachin Tendulkar had performed similarly at both home and away venues.

Distribution of Cook and Tendulkar’s 10000 Test runs as a captain and not as a captain:

	Alastair Cook
	M	R	Avg	100s	50s
Captain	47	3829	46.69	10	18
Not captain	81	6213	46.36	18	29

	Sachin Tendulkar
	M	R	Avg	100s	50s
Captain	25	2054	51.35	7	7
Not captain	97	8023	59.42	27	34

Sachin Tendulkar has out performed Alastair Cook in terms of average in both the categories while Alastair Cook has performed quite similarly as a captain and a player of England team in Tests.

Distribution of Cook and Tendulkar’s 10000 Test runs as match innings wise:

	Alastair Cook
	M	R	Avg	100s	50s
1^st match innings	66	2622	40.33	6	14
2^nd match innings	62	3421	55.17	9	16
3^rd match innings	55	2601	51.00	11	10
4^th match innings	47	1398	36.78	2	7

	Sachin Tendulkar
	M	R	Avg	100s	50s
1^st match innings	59	3937	71.58	14	12
2^nd match innings	62	3274	55.49	11	16
3^rd match innings	42	2010	54.32	7	11
4^th match innings	42	856	35.66	2	2

Sachin Tendulkar’s averages are higher as compared to Alastair Cook in matches’ 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd innings while Alastair Cook’s average is slightly better than Sachin Tendulkar’s average in matches’ 4^th innings.

Distribution of Cook and Tendulkar’s 10000 Test runs in won, lost and drawn matches:

	Alastair Cook
	M	R	Avg	100s	50s
Won	54	4561	55.62	14	15
Lost	39	2464	31.58	5	14
Drawn	35	3017	53.87	9	18

	Sachin Tendulkar
	M	R	Avg	100s	50s
Won	38	3293	67.20	11	12
Lost	34	2501	36.77	8	9
Drawn	50	4283	73.84	15	20

Both Cook and Tendulkar has performed better in their respective team’s won and drawn matches.

Well, numbers suggest us that both have performed quite similarly in most of the comparisons but this is the comparison only for 10,000 Test runs. If Alastair Cook wants to beat Sachin Tendulkar’s Test record then he has to perform well consistently and it is interesting to see whether he breaks that record or not but as of now by neglecting that fact, we can say undoubtedly that both are legends of the game.