Alastair Cook will challenge Sachin Tendulkar’s scoring record: Botham

As per Ian Botham, Cook has the time to challenge

Former England captain Ian Botham has said that the current Three Lions skipper Alastair Cook has enough time at his disposal to challenge Sachin Tendulkar’s record.

England's captain Alastair Cook became the twelfth batsman and the first Englishman to make 10,000 Test runs. (AFP)

On Monday, Cook became the youngest to join the 10, 000 runs club in the nine-wicket win against Sri Lanka at Chester-le-Street.

Cook needed five runs in the England’s second innings to reach to milestone. While he is nowhere near Tendulkar’s all-time mark of 15921 runs, Botham thought Cook was the man to chase the mammoth record.

“I think he’s got a lot more runs to come yet, this is just a milestone for him. He’s 31; he’s got lots of time to go. In five years, he could be chasing Sachin. Who knows?” he told Sky Sports.

“He is fit enough, strong enough, and we know how mentally tough he is. He could play for five or six more years easily. It’s down to him. It’s how long he wants to play for,” Botham said.

The former great may have a case. Tendulkar breached the 10,000 run barrier when he was 31 years and 10 months old.

Botham added that Cook not featuring in the one-day internationals has worked out well for the England captain.

His best Test cricket has been when he has not been playing one-day cricket. He is so disciplined and it means he doesn’t get caught between the two games. The best thing that happened to him was getting away from the one-day game,” Botham said.