Alastair Cook has got good chance of challenging Tendulkar Test runs record: Gavaskar

The England skipper became the youngest cricketer to the cross the 10,000-run mark on Monday, breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s 11-year-old record. With the age on Cook’s side, Sunil Gavaskar believes that he can challenge Sachin Tendulkar’s all-time Test run record in the future.

"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," Gavaskar told NDTV.

Sachin Tendulkar has made 15921 runs from 200 Test matches, while Cook is 5879 runs behind him with 10042 runs in 128 Test matches.

"So over the next 6-7 years, there might be a period when he (Cook) might have a terrific year where he might score a 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 legendary batsman said.

Cook also became the 12th batsman to cross the landmark figure joining an illustrious club, which include the likes of Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis, Rahul Dravid, Kumar Sangakkara, Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Mahela Jayawardene, Allan Border, Steve Waugh and Gavaskar himself.

When asked about Cook’s remarkable achievement, Gavaskar added that the Englishman’s success was even more special considering his career as an opening batsman.

"It definitely does because the ball does swing around a little bit more, the pitches can sometimes a little bit lively. So you are playing in different conditions, different pitches. Playing in England is much more difficult against quality opposition. So I think Alastair Cook certainly deserves a lot of praise for getting there," he said.

The former India captain also recalled some of the famous names to miss out on the landmark figure.

"Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Viv Richards straight away come to my mind. Those two are among the greatest. Javed Miandad is another one. He could have got there, the same also for Inzamam-ul-Haq," Gavaskar told NDTV.