'What impressed me most was...': Sachin Tendulkar on Joe Root approaching his massive Test record

Sachin Tendulkar on Joe Root approaching his massive Test record (AP/AFP Photos)

The stocks of Joe Root rose exponentially in the recently-concluded Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, which ended in a 2-2 draw. Root amassed 537 runs from nine innings and finished as the second-highest run-scorer after India's new Test skipper Shubman Gill, who hammered 754 runs from 10 innings. Root notched three centuries during the course of the five-match series and in the fourth match at Oval he overtook Ricky Ponting to move second in the all-time list of highest run scorers in Test.

Root now has 13,543 runs from 158 Tests, and is 2378 runs behind batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar, who sits at top of the list. Many former players have anticipated Root to surpass Tendulkar, debating that the former England captain has age in his hands. Root is currently 34.

Tendulkar was asked about Root's staggering numbers during an AMA session with Reddit. "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."

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Root will have an opportunity to add more to his tally in the much-anticipated Ashes 2025-26, which starts from November 21 in Perth. The five-match series, which is regarded as one of the biggest rivalries in cricket, will run from November 21 till January 8, with matches scheduled at Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney apart from Perth.

If we look at Root's numbers in Australia, the right-handed batter has accumulated 892 runs in 27 innings. Interestingly he is yet to score a single ton in the country and averages 35.68, which is his second lowest in comparison to Tests played at other foreign nations. Bangladesh is the country where Root averages the lowest. The former England captain has played just two Tests here and amassed 98 runs at an average of 24.50.