Joe Root (Source – ECB)
Star England batter Joe Root is ever closer to the legendary record of former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. Root is 3,544 runs short of Tendulkar’s Test runs record. With 200 Tests played, Tendulkar finished his career with a whopping 15,921 runs to his name, and with 145 Tests played so far, Root has scored 12,377 runs in the longest format.
Given that Root is only 33 years old, he still has several years of his career left to try and break Tendulkar’s record. Currently, the star England batter has been in exceptional form, and is scoring centuries for fun, and his two centuries against Sri Lanka have come to seriously threaten Tendulkar’s record.
Speaking of the same, former England cricketer Michael Vaughan is certain that Root will go on to break Tendulkar’s record and opined that the BCCI will not like someone who is not Indian on the top of the Test run-getters list.
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“I think it’s three and a half thousand runs he trails by. He has at least three years. Unless his back snaps, he is the most enthusiastic lover of the game. I don’t think he is going to get away. He is no longer the captain and knows his game better than ever before. I’ll be amazed if he doesn’t. He has played beautifully,” Vaughan was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times.
“Even if he goes on, I still think he will carry on. If Joe goes past Sachin, it will be the best thing that ever happens to cricket, because there’s no way BCCI would want an England player at the top of the list. They’ll want an Indian at the top so that will secure Test match cricket because it’ll take forever for someone to get past him,” he added.
For the current crop of cricketers, there are not many batters who can come close to Joe Root and the record of Tendulkar. One name that comes to mind is ace batter Virat Kohli. However, with 113 Tests played, and 8848 runs scored, Kohli is too far behind the likes of Root and Tendulkar.