Cook hits his 30th test hundred, 6th against India

Rajkot: England captain Alastair Cook , already the top century maker for his country, scored his 30th hundred on the last day of first of five-cricket test match series against India, at saurashtar Cricket Association ground here. His ton, the 6th against India, came before lunch on the concluding day of the match on Sunday.

Already the top test run getter for England, Cook produced another classic inning in the match which, in any case, was heading for a draw. The 19-year old debutant Hameed ,however, was unlucky to miss the milestone of scoring ton on debut when he got out at 82. Incidentally, Cook had scored century on his debut against India in Nagpur about a decade ago.

Thirty one-year old Cook , who had 10688 runs as his test aggregate before this match with an healthy average of over 46, was playing in his 136th test match. He has achieved a distinction of becoming the first captain to score a century in each of his first five Tests. He has five One day hundreds to his tally.

Not only, Cook has the most runs for England but he is the only batsman from his country to aggregated over ten thousand runs followed by 8900 runs by Graham Gooch. His tally of 30 centuries is followed by 23 test hundreds scored by Kevin Pieterson.

Many believe that if he continues to play for 5-6 years more, he could well be in the position to overhaul sachin Tendulkar's records subjected to the glorious uncertainties of the game.