New Delhi: The legendary Sachin Tendulkar recently opened up on England batter Joe Root surpassing the 13,000-run mark in Test cricket and approaching his record for the most runs in the format. Tendulkar also shared his first memory of Root and recalled how he had predicted a great future for the England star when he first saw him play during his debut Test series against India in 2012.
Root became the second-highest run-getter in Test history during the recently concluded Test series between India and England. The 34-year-old smashed 537 runs in 5 Tests to finish as the highest run-getter for England in the series and extend his tally to 13,543 runs in 158 matches in his Test career.
Root surpassed Ricky Ponting (13,378), Jacques Kallis (13,289) and Rahul Dravid (13,288) to become the second-highest run-getter in Tests, only behind Tendulkar. He needs only 2,378 runs to break Tendulkar’s world record of 15,921 runs, which is the most by any batter in Test cricket history.
During a Q&A session on Reddit, Tendulkar lauded Root for going past 13,000 runs in Tests and revealed how he always knew the England star would become a big player. Tendulkar shared his first impression of Root from his debut Test against India in Nagpur in 2012, and recalled how he told his teammates that they were watching the future England captain.
“To have gone past 13000 runs is a remarkable achievement, and he’s still going strong. When I saw him for the first time in Nagpur in 2012 during his debut Test, I told my teammates that they were watching the future captain of England. What impressed me most was the way he was able to assess the wicket and how he rotated the strike. I knew at that very moment that he would be a big player,” Tendulkar wrote during an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit.
Joe Root – England’s highest run-getter in Tests
Root is England’s highest run-getter of all time in Test cricket and is already among the greatest batters to have represented his country. The 34-year-old also holds the record for captaining England in the most Test matches. He led his team in 64 Tests. The England star has been in red-hot form in Test cricket over the last few years.
He has been unstoppable across all conditions and has asserted his dominance against the best of bowling attacks in the world. Root endured a rough patch as England captain from 2020 to 2022, however, he has batted phenomenally well ever since stepping down from captaincy in March 2022. The senior England batter has amassed over 3600 runs in that period at an excellent average of 58, including 14 centuries.