I am not a genius, Sachin is: Alastair Cook

TIL Desk Sports/ He might have beaten Sachin Tendulkar’s record of being the youngest to 10,000 runs but England captain Alastair Cook says he is well aware that he is nothing like the “incredibly talented genius” from India and has a long way to go before matching up to him. Cook became the 12th player in history to score 10,000 Test runs during England’s nine-wicket win against Sri Lanka at Durham last month but he is nearly 6,000 runs short of Tendulkar’s record aggregate of 15,921 runs from 200 matches.

The left-handed opener, 31, broke Tendulkar’s earlier record of being the youngest to score 10,000 Test runs by more than five months. Cook, who has now scored 10,042 runs in 128 Tests, said Tendulkar’s record Test runs are a long way off for him as of now. “Six thousand runs is a long way away. It was set by an incredibly talented genius. I’m no genius and Tendulkar is, so that is a long way ahead,” Cook said at the Lord’s ahead of the third Test against Sri Lanka.

“I want to play for England for as long as I can and at the moment I’m really enjoying it. I am really motivated and hungry and where that takes me who knows.” “I’ve never lived my life by saying where I want to get to publicly. In private you have a few goals you want to try and achieve, but at the moment a lot of my goals are very immediate with this England team and as a captain that takes me away from personal milestones as a batter.”

The England skipper has 28 Test hundreds to his name at an average of 47, whereas Tendulkar bowed out of Test cricket with a record 51 centuries at an average of nearly 54. Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, the first man to score 10,000 Test runs, said last week that Cook had it in him to set a new aggregate record for most Test runs because of his age and the fact that England play more games over the long format than many other nations.