Australian cricket legend Ricky Ponting believes that England’s Joe Root can break the all-time Test run records held by him and cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar. Root, who recently surpassed 12,000 Test runs, is now the seventh-highest run-scorer in Test cricket. Root is now very close to reaching the records set by two of the game’s greatest players.
At 33, Joe Root is only 1,351 runs away from Ricky Ponting’s total of 13,378 runs and less than 4,000 runs behind Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 15,921, the most in Test cricket history. As England prepares to play Sri Lanka in an ICC World Test Championship series later this month, Root has a chance to move closer to these incredible records.
In the latest episode of The ICC Review, Ponting praised Root’s batting skills and highlighted that if Root keeps playing as well as he is now, he could achieve remarkable new records.
“He is 33 years of age (more than) 3,000 runs behind. It depends on how many Test matches they play, but if they’re playing 10 to 14 Test matches a year, and if you’re scoring 800 to 1,000 runs a year, then that sort of says he’s only three or four years off getting there. So that’ll take him to 37 (years of age). If his hunger’s still there, then there’s every chance that he could do it.”
Root’s excellent form is evident, as he recently hit his 32nd Test century against the West Indies in Nottingham. This was his fourth century since the start of last year, proving his consistent ability to turn good starts into significant scores.
