New Delhi: England’s Test team captain Alastair Cook is all set to break cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar’s 11-year old record of being the youngest cricketer to reach the 10,000 runs milestone, when his team takes on Sri Lanka in a three-Test series starting at May 19.
Tendulkar breached the 10,000-run mark against Pakistan in Kolkata in March 2005 when he was 31 years and 10 months old. Cook, who turned 31 last December, will have his chance to outrun Tendulkar in the opening Test match against Sri Lanka.
The 31-year-old English batsman has, so far, amassed 9,964 runs in126 Test matches with an average of 46.56 and needs another 36 runs to join the elite 10,000-run club. Doing so, he will become the first English batsman and 11th overall to reach the landmark.
Cook, who also plays for Essex in the English county season, is in a terrific form and recently smashed two centuries and a half-century.
It is important to mention here that while Cook is likely to become the youngest cricketer to reach the coveted landmark, he won’t be the fastest to reach it.
In terms of innings taken to reach the 10,000-run landmark, Sachin Tendulkar, Kumar Sangakkara and Brian Lara have taken only 195 innings each, whereas Alastair Cook has already played in 226 innings till date.
Cook made his test debut against India in 2006 and smashed a century in the very first match. With his ability to score runs in big matches, he guided his team to their first series win the Ashes in Australia in 2011. The stylish left-handed batsman scored 766 runs in seven innings in that series.
In the 2010-11 Test series in India, Cook again led his team from the front helping them win the series 2-1. He scored 562 runs in four matches that included three centuries.
