It is a pain staying away from family and playing, says Alastair Cook

England captain Alastair Cook has admitted that he has questioned how much longer he can continue playing for his country, with the pain of staying away from his family troubling his mind.

Cook will add another feather to his cap when he leads his side out on the field against Bangladesh on Thursday as he will become England’s highest capped Test player. The game will be his 134th Test, and he is still just 31. The talk of the town is that judging by his fitness, Cook can go on to break Sachin Tendulkar's all-time record of 200 Test appearances.

Not only appearances, Cook is also tipped to overtake the master’s record of 15,921 runs in Test cricket. The England skipper presently has 10,599 runs to his credit.

But only a few days back, Cook’s wife Alice gave birth to their second daughter. And the cricketer acknowledged the fact that the thought of touring for many more years was disconcerting.

"We play Tests so quickly nowadays so I could do (break Tendulkar's appearances record)... The danger is looking at it," Cook was quoted by The Daily Star. "70-odd Test matches now seems a long way away and if I am brutally honest, the more times you pack your bags to leave your family at home you do question how long you can keep doing it for."

Fans still flock to watch the longest form of cricket in England, and the Three Lions, therefore, play a lot more Tests than other teams. Presently they have 14 Test matches lined up in the next one year.

The left-hander will have the break he needs between December and July next year, given that England will only be playing in one-day internationals and also staging the Champions Trophy during that period.

Cook was controversially sacked as England’s limited-overs skipper just two months before the 2015 World Cup, but he now says that call could have been a blessing in disguise. "Noticeably, not playing one-day cricket has lightened my load up," he said. "You get more substantial breaks which refresh you mentally a lot more than it has ever done.”

"You can isolate each series or tour knowing that I have 10 weeks here but January, February, March are back at home and you can do your training block or get away from it and spend some quality time at home."

Speaking about leading the side, he said: "Something I am very proud of," and that he never dreamed when he made his debut 11 years ago that he was embarking on a record-breaking career.

"I would never have thought in 2006 when I made my debut I would get close to breaking that... It will be a very special moment. It doesn't matter whether you are playing your first game or your 130th. It is a very proud moment to play for England and you should never ever forget that and I certainly don't."