Root scored his 32nd Test century against the West Indies last month in Nottingham in what was the fourth time he has reached triple figures since the start of last year.
Former Australian cricketer Ricky Ponting predicts that England star batter Joe Root has every chance of overtaking both he and Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar to become the all-time leading run scorer in the red ball game. The English top-order batter has recently scored 12,000 Test runs and went on to register his name in the history of the game after becoming the seventh-highest run scorer of all time in the elite list of cricket.
The 33-year-old English cricketer has less than 1351 runs for Ricky Ponting and 4000 runs for Sachin Tendulkar and has the full chance to overtake in the upcoming years to become the all-time leading run scorer. Notably, the English set-up is all set to face Sri Lanka in the three matches of the Test series slated to commence on August 21, where he will be looking to get closer to these two legendary cricketers.
In the same vein, the 2003 ODI World Cup-winning captain paid compliments to Joe Root while discussing his batting display in the recent edition of the ICC Review and feels that the world number one Test batter can further take the game to the epitome of the level if he continues his current form of cricket. Ricky Ponting feels that the stylish right-handed batter has the full potential to become an all-time leading scorer in Test cricket.
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The 49-year-old cricketer feels that Joe Root is just 3000 runs behind the Indian batting master, and if Root continues to play 10-14 Test matches with the current form, then he might overtake Sachin Tendulkar in the next three to four years. The cricketer turned commentator further said that if Joe Root remains hunger to achieve the milestone, then he will definitely grab the elite spot very soon.
“He could potentially do that. He is 33 years of age…(more than) 3000 runs behind. It depends 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 1000 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. If his hunger’s still there, then there’s every chance that he could do it. He is someone that in the last couple of years has got better and better,” Ponting told host Sanjana Ganesan when asked if Root could overtake Tendulkar’s massive tally of runs in Test cricket.
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