Alastair Cook says 'genius' Sachin Tendulkar's record a long way ahead

Cook became the 13^th batsman to achieve the 10,000-run milestone

England skipper Alastair Cook may have surpassed Sachin Tendulkar as the youngest player to score 10,000 Test runs; however, he feels that he is now way near breaking the master batsman’s record of 15,921 runs. In the process of achieving the milestone, the southpaw became the first English batsman to reach the 10,000-run mark. Based on Cook’s record-breaking feat, there has been a lot of talk about him surpassing Tendulkar’s Test run tally but the star batsman has not even thought about it.

Speaking about his chances to take over from the Indian legend, the Englishman said, “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 also claimed that he is not thinking about personal records at the moment and is more concerned about his role as skipper of England’s Test team. He said, “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.”

“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,” added the 31-year old who has led his team to some memorable Ashes victories.

Alastair Cook also opened up on his concerns about introducing day-night Tests in the Ashes series. “A lot of the games have really good attendances, and it's probably not a series where you need to do it exactly at this time,” said the England opening batsman about the plans.

Cook, though, did acknowledge the fact that the concept can help Test cricket grow. He stated, “My general view of day-night Tests is that they're definitely something cricket authorities need to keep looking at -- because it's the way to keep the game moving with the times, making it more possible for spectators to come and watch.”

According to the 128-Test veteran, the primary issue is the pink ball which will be used for playing day-night Tests. “My issue with it is the quality of the pink ball, he said, “No disrespect to the guys who make it -- but on the two occasions I've played, it doesn't seem to behave the same way as the red ball.”

“It's one of the great things about Test cricket - sometimes the ball swings conventionally, sometimes it reverses. On my two occasions with the pink ball, it didn't do any of that - and then it nipped all over under twilight. The quality of the ball is vital,” he added.