Can Cook Surpass Tendulkar?

Cook for all his class and skill is basically a batsman who is known for his patience, dedication, determination and concentration...

- Partab Ramchand

Ever since he made his Test debut against India at Nagpur in 2006 a memorable one with a hundred there could be little doubt that Alastair Cook was a batsman earmarked for greatness. In racing parlance it could be easily predicted that Cook was a stayer and not a sprinter and he has now stayed the course for over ten years. In the process he has become England’s leading run getter and leading century maker and the latest landmark – the first England batsman to cross 10,000 runs was really always on the cards. He was earmarked quite early in his career as the batsman who could go past Graham Gooch’s long standing record of 8900 runs and also put into the shade the record of 22 centuries held jointly by Wally Hammond, Colin Cowdrey and Geoff Boycott. But that he has surpassed both the important records while still only 31 – making him the youngest of the 12 batsmen to have crossed the 10,000 run mark and interestingly enough pushing Sachin Tendulkar to second place - has given rise to serious discussion whether he could just be the man who could now put Tendulkar’s world records for most Test runs in the shade. Eminent personalities like Ian Botham and Sunil Gavaskar are among those have expressed an opinion that Cook has a realistic chance. But for all of Cook’s class, skill, experience and batting approach it must be said that Tendulkar’s aggregate of runs and centuries could well elude him.