If England’s star batsman Joe Root remains ‘hungry’ and scores runs at a steady pace for the next four years, former Australian captain Ricky Ponting believed that Root may break the record set by batting great Sachin Tendulkar. English hitter recently accomplished the rare feat of reaching the 12,000-run mark during the Edgbaston Test against the West Indies. He made him just the seventh hitter in the history of the traditional (Test) format. Root may soon pass former teammate Alastair Cook (12,472) and Kumar Sangakkara (12,400 runs) from Sri Lanka.
Ponting: Joe Root Can Surpass Legend’s Records
With 12,027 runs at 50.11 in 143 Tests, 32 centuries, and 63 fifties thus far, England’s batsman is also the seventh-best run-scorer overall in Test history. “He (Root) could potentially do that,” Ponting, who has 13,378 runs from 168 Tests, second only behind Tendulkar in the record, said to The ICC Review. At thirty-three, he is (over) three thousand runs behind.”
According to Ponting, Root will need to maintain his desire for runs, and the England hitter has the experience to pursue the Test record. “He has a very good probability of succeeding if his hunger persists. He is someone who has improved greatly over the past few years,” the Australian cricket coach stated. “Root appeared to have conquered his incapacity to turn half-centuries into significant scoring runs.”
“He was battling to make hundreds of dollars four or five years ago, and he was making a lot of fifty dollars, but he lately went the other way,” Ponting said. In Nottingham, the Englishman just scored his 32nd Test century against the West Indies. Joe Root’s remarkable conversion rate can be attributed to his peak performance in his early 30s. He was barely making three figures four or five years ago, selling in half-centuries. Right now, the circumstances are different. He is making hundreds out of his fifties. It’s quite a change for him.
Root’s Pursuit of Tendulkar’s Record
Tendulkar’s record of 15,921 runs is now less than 4,000 runs away from Root. Ponting believes that the English batsman can close the deficit as England prepares to play Sri Lanka in the next Test series. Root participated in all three games during WI’s England visit in 2024. In four innings, he scored 291 runs at an average of 72.75. He scored two fifty and one hundred. Root got things going in the first Test at Lord’s with a 68-run hammer. At Trent Bridge, he followed that up with scores of 14 and 122. He hit 87 in the last Test.
The most successful captain in the history of the sport, though, added that if the Englishman wanted to overtake Tendulkar, he would need to have the desire to keep going. Even if Root meets the run total, he is still well behind Sachin’s record of 51 Test hundreds and will require a miracle to surpass it. While Joe Root, Steve Smith, and Kane Williamson have all amassed 32 Test centuries between them, Ponting drew attention to Root’s recent track record of turning 50s into 100s.
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