Sachin Tendulkar is an incredible genius, I am not: Alastair Cook

England captain Alastair Cook feels that India batting great Sachin Tendulkar‘s all-time record for Test runs is still very far from his sights despite becoming the youngest to reach 10,000 runs mark.

Cook recently became the 12th player and the first Englishman in history to score 10,000 Test runs. he achieved this landmark during the second Test against Sri Lanka at Durham which the hosts won by 9 wickets to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series ahead of Thursday’s third Test at Lord’s.

At 31 years and 157 days, he also is the youngest to get to the mark, breaking Tendulkar’s record by more than five months.

Cook with 10,042 runs in 128 Tests is still 6,000 runs short of breaking Tendulkar’s record aggregate of 15,921 runs from 200 Tests. The England skipper has 28 Test hundreds to his name, with his runs having come at an average of 47, whereas Tendulkar bid adieu to the game with a record 51 centuries at an average of nearly 54.

“Six thousand runs is a long way away,” Cook, speaking at Lord’s, said Wednesday. “It was set by an incredibly talented genius. I’m no genius and Tendulkar is, so that is a long way ahead. 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,” Cook added.