When Sachin
Tendulkar retired in 2013, he had scaled heights which seemed insurmountable.
Thehighest run scorer in test and one day internationals, with most centuries
in both the forms , most number of test matches ,most number of oneday matches
and the list of the record continues. His record seemed untouchables for years
and it was clear that it was very difficult for anyone to reach near him leave
alone breaking them, however when Alistair Cook scored his 11,000 th run last
Indian tour at the age of 32 only, many experts including Indian great Sunil
Gavaskar the first man ever to score 10000 runs in test history said that he
might be able to break Tendulkar’s record of most test runs as age is on his
side. The most Runs and wickets in test cricket is still considered to be the
most prized possession for players despite the age of t-20 cricket. In an age
when tests are decreasing in numbers with every year, It’s important that a
player must play more tests over a long period and perform consistently during
that time. There are number of batsmen in modern cricket who are capable to
break Tendulkar’s record but either they don’t play much test cricket or the
politics of their board doesn’t allow much test cricket. In such a circumstances
there is only Alistair Cook who seems to tick all the boxes.
When Marcus Trescothick withdrew from India’s
tour of 2005-06 famously due to depression, it was a major set back foe England
however little was thought that this was the turning point in English cricket
as 21 year old Alistair Cook was called up as cover. He started his career at Nagpur’s
Vidarbha Cricket Association ground scoring a big hundred impressing everyone. Cook’s
talent however was identified much earlier in early 2000s by Kieth Fletcher,
who famously told Nasser Hussain that this lad will become great one day .
Hussain though was not impressed by the boy, little did he knew that the boy will one day
go one to play for England and will scale heights which no other Englishmen had
ever achieved . He has been brilliant not only in England but also in Australia
, India , South Africa and UAE home of
top nations of the world. His contribution in Australia in 2010-11 in India in
2012-13 was remarkable to win series in these countries after two and half
decades. No one can forget his hundred against Warne and McGrath at Perth in
2006 or his crafty hundred in 2007 at Galle against Murli. However two of his
best Innings came in the toughest countries. In 2010-11 Ashes his brilliant 235
at Gabba was the turning point of the series which helped England ending their 24
years drought in Australia. Two years later in India he scored two brilliant
tons one in Ahmadabad in losing cause while other at Kolkata’s Eden Garden sealed
a historic test series for England in India after 28 years . The 190 at Eden
which was his 23rd hundred took him surpass Sir Geoff Boycott’s English
record of 22 Hundred.
The most
Impressive aspect of Cook’s game has been his unflappable temperament, penchant
of playing marathon innings, unending patience and hunger for scoring more and more.
He is youngest to score 7,000, 8000, 9000 and 10,000 Test Runs. He have been
breaking all records of Sachin of late and the question arises whether he will
reach the zenith of batting record i.e most runs in career in Test Cricket .He
have already scored 11,057 Runs with an impressive average of 47 in 140 tests
and is just 32 years of age. In next 2 years till ICC World Cup 2019 England
will play another 27 test matches and seeing his fitness it can be said Cook
will go on to play all these test matches. With current average if he plays 60
innings with an average of 45- 50 , he
will end up making 13000-13500 runs by then .Which mean he would have played
170 tests with 13500 runs and will be having greater chance to break Sachin
record but for that he will need to play for another three years which mean he
will have to continue till 37-38, considering the changing nature of the
English selector nowadays it will be great challenge even for Cook to continue
by that time , it also mean that he will have to face the grills of
International cricket for another 6-7 years. The losses these days especially
the Ashes losses tend to end the career of most famous of all ( Kevin Pietersen, Greame
Swann, Graham Gooch, Mike Gatting etc) so 2017-18 in Australia will be great
challenge for Cook , if he can survive that, chances of him to play long will increase.
The things which might help him is that he is only 32 and England plays a lot
of test matches as a result he have greater chances to reach the goal and even
play 200 test matches . It is beneficial for him that he plays only one format
which will enable him to get healthy amounts of breaks from international
cricket to keep him fresh and hungry , he can preserve his energy unlike
players who play all the format throughout the year.
Whatever
happens in coming years but one thing is true it will be difficult for anyone
else than Cook to break Indian Master’s
Record none of Kohli, Smith, Root or Williamson have touched 6000 Test Runs and
they are all 26-28 years already, it simply means that if Cook achieves this
milestone it might be his for years or may be decades to come.
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