With Cook now gone, Sachin's record is safe

17'th October 2008, the first ball after the tea break from debutant Peter Siddle was guided towards the third man area much to the delight of the crowd and cricket fans from the around the globe. That was the moment that Sachin Tendulkar surpassed Brain Lara's tally of 11,953 runs to become the highest run-getter in the history of Test matches.

Mohali was the venue which saw him score 88 en route to him crossing the 12,000 run mark, the first to do so at that time. It has been almost 10 years now and 5 more players have achieved the feat of 12,000 runs in Tests with Alastair Cook being the latest.

5 years have passed since Sachin hung his boots and post his retirement 3 players have looked to threaten his run tally.

Even though Kallis didn't last long after Sachin's decision to quit Tests he was the most likely candidate to break the record at the time. The Proteas all-rounder was just around 2,700 runs behind the Master Blaster's tally and just 6 shy of his century mark as well. Another three more years and Kallis could have surpassed him. But it was not to be.

The first series India played after Sachin's retirement turned out to be the last one for Kallis. One day before the final Test against India at Durban, Kallis announced his retirement bringing to an end a great career.

The second player who was in line to break Sachin's record was the southpaw from Sri Lanka. If you talk of great batsmen, then the list would be incomplete without Kumar Sangakkara. He along with his teammate and friend Mahela Jayawardene are undoubtedly two of the best batsmen that Sri Lanka has ever produced.

The classy left-hander completed his 10,000 runs at the Boxing Day Test match in 2012. When Sachin said goodbye to the game, the Sri Lankan was 5,435 runs behind him. But, he was in great form and was the highest Test run-getter in 2014 with 1,486 runs. However, he announced his retirement after 2015 World Cup at the age of 38 and his last Test came in August 2015 at P Sara Oval.

ECB and the team management don't stick with players for long after a few failures, irrespective of whether they are senior members of the side or have scored plenty of runs in the past. To sustain in such an environment and score more than 12,000 runs when no England player has scored even 9000 runs speaks volumes about Alastair Cook. While Cook may not look as elegant or stylish as a Kallis or Sachin he had the hunger for runs and determination and concentration to bat for long periods and fight it out under tough situations.

For a while, he has been touted as the player capable of eclipsing the feat of the Master Blaster. England's schedule of playing at least 10 Tests a year and Cook's fitness gave more weight to that theory.

In May 2016, the southpaw crossed the 10,000 run mark at the age of just 31, the youngest to do so. The 4-0 series loss against India in 2016 probably led to his downfall. There was criticism about his batting and captaincy. He handed over the responsibility to Root, but he continued to struggle in the batting department.

Even though he has scored two double tons in the last two years after the tour to India that remains his only significant contribution. After stepping down from captaincy, he has scored runs at an average just a shade over 33 in 36 innings. He had age on his hand to chase the Master Blaster in runs as well as matches.

But Cook will now take to the field for one last time in an England jersey at The Oval. What his decision means is that the Indian fans can have a sigh of relief as the champion batsman from India has no one wandering close to his Everest.