Press Trust of India
London, June 9: He might have beaten Sachin Tendulkar’s record of being the youngest to 10,000 runs but England captain Alastair Cook says he is well aware that he is nothing like the ‘incredibly talented genius’ from India and has a long way to go before matching up to him.
Cook became the 12th player in history to score 10,000 Test runs during England’s nine-wicket win against Sri Lanka at Durham last month but he is nearly 6,000 runs short of Tendulkar’s record aggregate of 15,921 runs from 200 matches.
Cook, who has now scored 10,042 runs in 128 Tests, said Tendulkar’s record Test runs are a long way off for him as of now. “Six thousand runs is a long way away. It was set by an incredibly talented genius. I’m no genius and Tendulkar is, so that is a long way ahead,” Cook said at the Lord’s ahead of the third Test against Sri Lanka.
The England skipper has 28 Test hundreds to his name at an average of 47, whereas Tendulkar bowed out of Test cricket with a record 51 centuries at an average of nearly 54.
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, the first man to score 10,000 Test runs, said last week that Cook had it in him to set a new aggregate record for most Test runs because of his age.