Cricketer-turned-expert Ravi Shastri has solidly backed England batter Joe Root to give a serious fight to break legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar's all-time Test record of 15,921 runs after the English batter's shock stat reveal during the England vs India Test in the ongoing 4th match in Old Trafford on Thursday, July 24.
Root is currently batting on 11, and will be closing on the second spot on the all-time Test run-getters list and could overtake batting icons Jacques Kallis (12,289) and Rahul Dravid (12,288) with only 20 runs. Only Ricky Ponting stands between the English batter and Tendulkar then, having finished his Test career at 13,378 runs in 167 Tests for Australia.
Shastri has stated Root could jump up to the second spot quickly. The expert said that the right-hand batter has age on his side as he is only 34 years old, and requires 3000 Test runs to go past Tendulkar's all-time Test record. Former England cricketer Michael Atherton showed a stat with assistance from Sky Sport statistician Benedict Bermange, who said Root had a 60.28% chance of nudging the legendary batter.
Also read: Ravi Shastri fumes 'rubbish' after India's pace trio Siraj, Kamboj & Bumrah let England score freely
“Look at his age. Look at the number of matches. He’s played 157. So you would imagine he would go past three ahead of him in almost three Test matches. And then he’s got about 40 Test matches. Sachin has played 200 Tests. Root has played 160. He’s still young. He has four years of cricket ahead of him. And what will separate him and Tendulkar will be around 3,000 runs. When you’re hot, you’re hot, and in the meantime, he has age on his side,” said Shastri.
Michael Atherton warns Joe Root of breaking Tendulkar's record
Former England captain warned Joe Root on air of a curse from a billion Indian fans after the late data-driven jolt on Thursday.
“I tell you that it won’t be music to the ears of the Indians. It’s just coming about to bedtime in India, and you’ve given us a stat — 60.28,” Shastri said.
Atherton added, “He’ll be cursed. Millions of homes around Mumbai right now.”
Atherton also stated that even if Root does not manage to break Tendulkar's record, he still will go down as one of Test cricket's best batters.
“Wherever Joe Root finishes, say, for example, he went past Sachin. I’m not so sure anybody will go past that just because of the nature of the way the game is going. People will play fewer Test matches, I would imagine, in the years to come,” he said.
