Former Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar feels England captain Alastair Cook can break Sachin Tendulkar’s milestone of 15,921 Test runs. Cook surpassed the legendary batsman to become the youngest batsman to reach 10,000 runs in Test cricket during the second game against Sri Lanka in Durham.
Cook needed 36 runs to scale the record before the series against Sri Lanka and took three innings to reach the 10,000 mark. He was dismissed for 16 runs in the first Test, and he got out on12 runs on the first day of the second Test. He successfully touched the landmark on the third day, slamming a boundary off Nuwan Pradeep’s ball.
"Cook can break Tendulkar's record of Test runs. He has age on his side and England play more Tests," Gavaskar told NDTV.
Cook is the first English batsman and the 12th player in the world to amass 10,000 Test runs and he accomplished the record at the age of 31 years and 158 days, surpassing Tendulkar’s mark of 31 years and 326 days. The skipper scored 1364 runs in 2015 at an average of 54.5, the most he has scored in a calendar year.
Also read: Alastair Cook expresses delight on breaking Sachin Tendulkar's record
Gavaskar added that England playing a lot of Test matches could help the southpaw beat Tendulkar’s record. “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.”
Cook is just 5879 runs away from the Master Blaster's record and Gavaskar feels Cook's age and fitness is an added advantage.
“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 66-year-old added.
England, who have won the series against Sri Lanka, will be playing the final Test at Lord's on June 9. They will be facing Pakistan in four Tests before rounding off their summer.
With the team then heading to Bangladesh and India, where they will be playing two and five Tests respectively, Cook will be playing 12 tests in the next six months. There is a chance of him breaking Tendulkar's record if his good form continues in the forthcoming seasons as well.
