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The former captain of Australia, Ricky Ponting believes that Joe Root can surpass Sachin Tendulkar's tally of runs in Test cricket. The former England skipper is scoring for fun and if he keeps on scoring those runs, in the next four years he'll be sitting at the top. Root became the seventh batter in the history of the test to cross the 12,000-run mark.
With 12,027 runs in 143 Tests at an average of 50.11 with 32 centuries and 63 fifties so far, Root is also overall the seventh-highest run-scorer in Tests. He is just 373 runs behind Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara (12,400 runs) and 445 runs behind Alastair Cook (12,472) in the format.
Tendulkar leads the table with 15921 runs from 200 Tests. Ponting is sitting behind Tendulkar in the list with 13,378 runs from 168 Tests. He said, "Root 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 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)," said the Australian.
"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 gotten better and better. There's always talk around batters reaching their prime in their early 30s and he's certainly done that. It's been his conversion rates being the big thing," Ponting added.
To score over 15,000 runs in the longest and hardest format of the game is not everyone's cup of tea. But the England right-handed sensation has proved his doubters wrong again and again. He has overachieved in terms of scoring runs in recent years. And if he continues to do that, then scoring 3000 runs may seem easy.
"Almost every time he gets to 50 now, he goes on and makes a big hundred. So that's been the real turnaround for him," Ponting concluded.