Joe Root has 12027 runs in 143 Tests, while Sachin Tendulkar made 15921 runs in 200 Tests.
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting feels that the way Joe Root is churning out runs for England in Test cricket, he is the prime candidate for breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most runs in Test cricket.
Joe Root has become a run machine for England, as the right-hander has been the most consistent hitter in the longest version of the game, and he is presently ranked first in the format.
In the just-concluded Test series against the West Indies, Root was at his best. The batter maintained his good form and ensured that his team won the series. During the series, he also scored 12000 runs in the longest version of the game, making him the seventh-highest run-scorer in history.
Root is 1,351 runs behind Ponting (13,378) and fewer than 4,000 runs behind Tendulkar (15,921), and he might close the gap even further during his team's ICC World Test Championship series against Sri Lanka, which begins later this month.
Ponting believes the world's No.1 ranked Test batter Root can reach even greater heights should his current rich vein of form continue.
"He could potentially do that," Ponting told ICC Review when asked if Root could overtake Tendulkar's massive tally of runs in Test cricket.
"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 1000 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 added.
Root also scored his 32nd Test century in the West Indies Test series, which was the fourth time he has reached triple figures since the start of last year. Ponting noted how much better the England batter had become in converting his good starts into big scores in recent times.
"He is someone that in the last couple of years has got better and better. There's always talk about batters reaching their prime in their early 30s and he's certainly done that. It's been his conversion rates being the big thing. Four or five years ago, he was making a lot of 50s and struggling to go on and make hundreds and he's gone the other way recently.
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 added.
(ICC inputs)