Alastair Cook, who has become the first England batsman to cross 1000 runs on Indian soil, needs another 343 runs to surpass West Indian legend Clive Lloyd’s record of 1359 runs against India in India. The other two overseas batsmen with more runs than the 31-year-old left-hander in India are the West Indian Gordon Greendige (1042) and Australia’s Mathew Hayden (1027).
What’s also remarkable is that Cook has five centuries in nine Test matches here as against Lloyd’s four (in 14 matches), Greenidge’s three (14) and Hayden’s two (11). With four more Tests to be played in this series, the England captain can fancy his chances of overhauling Lloyd, one of the most popular West Indians to have visited India from 1966 to 1983. Cook’s 130 was the 201st Test century by an overseas batsman on Indian soil.
India has been a fertile ground for many cricketers and Cook fits into this particular calculation. Some ten and half years ago, Cook, all of 21, made his Test debut at Nagpur and made a fine impression with scores of 60 and an unconquered 104. He had opened with Andrew Strauss and scored against an attack consisting of Irfan Pathan, S. Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble. Thereafter he has gone on to outwit a variety of other Indian bowlers like Zaheer Khan, R. Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha etc. in India.
Cook has often appeared to be phlegmatic opener who sees a definite purpose when taking on the new ball operators and the spinners, unlike Lloyd who was quite brutal in execution of shots and played power-packed knocks. Hayden too was aggressive.
England’s right handers have contributed 34 centuries out of the 47 in India and leading the group is the late Ken Barrington with three in the 1960s. Tony Grieg became popular in the 1970s and Kevin Pietersen --- under pressure after his double failure at Motera in 2012 --- turned the second Test match at Mumbai on its head with a spectacular 186 off 233 balls.
Big knocksThe numbers not only support Cook’s claim to be seen as the top England batsman in India, but also shows his fierce resolve to lead by example. It was Cook who started to challenge the Indian spinners in 2012 with a stoical 176 in nine and a quarter hours in the second innings at Motera and played another equally dogged knock of 122 that changed the complexion of the Mumbai Test. Cook continued to be a thorn in the Indian flesh that series by making 190 in 492 minutes and after facing 377 balls at the Eden Gardens.
His fifth century at Rajkot, on what was generally imagined as a pitch that made stroke making difficult, speaks about his tenacity and display of skill to outsmart the Indians. “Luckily my record here is OK. You’re always going to be slightly nervous on the first day of a big series.
“The second innings was quite hard work. Jadeja was bowling into the rough with a brand new ball, some at 60mph. I have not been in the greatest of forms. Not had that rhythm in the nets. Did not have it in Bangladesh. After drinks wanted to push on; it freed me up a bit and helped my game. Nice to score runs when you’re not at your best,” said Cook on Sunday.
From 1933 onwards, when Douglas Jardine led a team here, about 156 England batsman have played in India and scored 26001 runs with 47 centuries and 132 half centuries. Cook tops them all with superb numbers — 1017 runs with five 100s and three 50s at an average of 63.56.
