#360view: Cook must now target Tendulkar’s Test tally

Ajit Vijaykumar 22:31 31/05/2016
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  • Alistair Cook is the only active player in the 10k club.

    Alastair Cook is the most successful England Test batsman. He has been so for a considerable period. The best players don’t need a label to be acknowledged as one but even so, being part of the 10,000-run club has a nice ring to it and Cook should pat himself on the back for being the first Englishman to do so, and also the youngest ever.

    A young player, generally, doesn’t have a number in mind when he starts his international career. Establishing his place in the national team is his first objective and then, depending on his hunger and potential, the next targets are set. Along the way, records fall and feats are accomplished. There is no doubt that Cook too started his career simply to be the best batsman he can be and in the process has become the most prolific England player.

    First, let’s acknowledge what Cook has achieved. He is the youngest player ever to score 10,000 Test runs and he is part of an exclusive club which has the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting and Jacques Kallis among others.

    The 10k club has some of the all-time great batsmen but Cook somehow is yet to be talked about in the same breath as legends like Steve Waugh or Brian Lara even though he has almost as many runs.

    What’s more, Cook is an opening batsman for whom home Tests mean some of the toughest conditions for a top order batsman. That makes his achievement even more special.

    Cook fast facts

    • Tests: 128
    • Runs scored: 10,042
    • Average: 46.49
    • 100s/50s: 28/47

    Also, it must be noted that a few years after Cook took over England captaincy from Andrew Strauss, he lost the services of some fine cricketers like Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen and Graeme Swann. He had to take more responsibility as a batsman while leading a team that was in a rebuilding phase.

    However, we see a strange reluctance to laud Cook as one of the best openers, let alone batsmen, in the longest format of the game. It’s a situation which Cook’s teammate James Anderson too faces despite having more than 450 Test wickets under his belt.

    But unlike Anderson, Cook has a substantial number of years left in him as a batsman to go even higher.

    He is just 31 and one the fittest players in the England squad. One can never say what the future has in store but if Cook wishes to continue and there is no catastrophic loss of form, he can play on for at least five more years.

    And realistically, he can get close to the statistical peak of Test batting – Sachin Tendulkar’s mark of 15,921 runs.

    Since 2010, Cook has scored more than 1,000 runs in a calendar year on three occasions and garnered 900-odd twice. Keeping that in mind, it can be said that by the time Cook turns 35, he should to be close to Tendulkar’s mark.

    Whether such statistics interest Cook is another matter. Circumstances might also change a few years down the line and Cook doesn’t come across as a player who will fight on just to get ‘that’ statistic under his belt, as some legendary batsmen been accused of doing.

    But the fact is Cook can become the most prolific Test batsman of all time. While that should not be the main target for the 31-year-old, it must remain in the back of his mind as that will be a part of his legacy. He is the only active player in the 10k club and in the age of T20 cricket, it provides a greater target for young batsmen to aspire to and also acts as a reminder to those who believe Virat Kohli’s exploits in T20s are the epitome of
    batsmanship.

    Cricket is a team game but when it comes to such revered milestones, it is okay for Cook and England to dream big. Because only a chosen few get to stand atop the highest peak at the end of their journey.

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