Former Australian captain and legend Ricky Ponting has made an interesting claim about a current cricketer who could surpass Sachin Tendulkar's runs tally in Test cricket. Tendulkar is widely regarded as one of the greatest players to have graced the 'Gentleman's game'.
The Indian veteran has bucketloads of records to his name, both as a batter and as a cricketer in general. The 51-year-old is the player with the most appearances, and runs, among other records in Test cricket.
However, among the innumerable records that Tendulkar holds, his compatriot in Ricky Ponting has revealed that Joe Root could beat the Mumbai-born cricketer to a record in the red-ball format.
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What did Ricky Ponting say about Joe Root breaking Sachin Tendulkar's record?
England's Joe Root is just a little less than 4000 runs shy of breaking Sachin Tendulkar's record of scoring the highest runs in Test cricket. In 200 appearances, the retired batter scored 15921 runs - 3894 runs more than the highest run-getter among active players, Root.
The 33-year-old has the backing of Ricky Ponting, another of the game's all-time greats. Ponting has claimed that if the Englishman goes no low on the hunger, he could become the highest run-scorer ever in Test cricket.
He could potentially do that (on breaking Sachin’s record). He is 33 years of age (more than) 3,000 runs behind. It depends on 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). If his hunger's still there, then there's every chance that he could do it, Ponting said on The ICC Review.
MORE: List of batsmen with 10000 runs in Test cricket
What is Sachin Tendulkar's batting record in Tests?
| Matches | Runs | Average | Strike Rate | 50s | 100s | High Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 200 | 15921 | 53.78 | 54.04 | 68 | 51 | 248* |
MORE: Can Joe Root break Sachin Tendulkar's Test run tally?
What is Joe Root's batting record in Tests?
| Matches | Runs | Average | Strike Rate | 50s | 100s | High Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 143 | 12027 | 50.11 | 56.71 | 63 | 32 | 254 |
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