Former England captain Alastair Cook believes that Joe Root has the potential to become the leading run-scorer in Test cricket history, surpassing the legendary Sachin Tendulkar. Root recently surpassed Cook to become England’s leading scorer in Test cricket during the ongoing series against Pakistan in Multan.
Cook, who watched Root achieve this milestone, expressed his admiration and congratulated him. “I watched the moment, then I rang him after the end of the play,” Cook said. “I couldn’t think of the right words to write in a text message. So I thought I’d just ring him, see what he was up to, and make sure he had a beer in his hand, which I think he did.”
Root’s current run tally stands at 12,716, just 3,206 runs shy of Tendulkar’s record of 15,921 runs. Cook believes that Root has the ability to reach this milestone. “I think Joe Root could set a mark, certainly on an English side, that’ll be very hard to beat,” Cook said. “But you just never know. I hope he can get very close, if not be the first person who scores 16,000 Test runs. It’d be a great achievement.”
Before surpassing Tendulkar’s record, Root must first overtake six other players: Jacques Kallis (13,289 runs), Ricky Ponting (13,378 runs), Rahul Dravid (13,288 runs), Kumar Sangakkara (12,400 runs), Brian Lara (11,953 runs), and Mahela Jayawardene (11,814 runs).
Root will continue his pursuit of Tendulkar’s record in the third Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi, beginning on Thursday. If he continues to perform at his current level, he has a good chance of achieving this historic milestone.
