England’s star batter Joe Root went past as many as three batters on the all-time Test batting list during his 150-run knock on Day 3 of the Manchester Test against India.

After going past Rahul Dravid and Jacques Kallis before Lunch, Root surpassed Australian legend Ricky Ponting before Tea on Friday (July 25) to become the second-highest run scorer in the longest format.

Root celebrated the milestone day by getting to his 38th Test hundred, drawing level with Sri Lankan great Kumar Sangakkara on the all-time list of Test batters with most three-figure scores.

When Root scored his 120th run, he moved to No. 2 in the list of batters with most Test runs, taking his tally past Ponting's 13,378. Now, the only one batter with more Test runs than English talisman is the Indian icon Sachin Tendulkar, who has 15,921 runs to his credit from 200 matches.

Former India wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel believes if Joe Root fails to break Tendulkar’s record for most runs in Test history, then future contenders will have it ‘very difficult’ to come close to it.

Speaking on a Star Sports show, Patel was light-heartedly asked if Root should do a Wiaan Mulder and ‘retire’ before breaking Tendulkar’s record as a mark of respect.

The suggestion left Patel in splits as he dismissed the idea, saying he didn’t endorse Mulder’s act and won’t want Root to do such a thing either.

“He should not do that at all," Patel said. “I don’t agree with what Mulder did at all because when that record was broken (before Lara), it was Matthew Hayden against Zimbabwe in Perth. He didn’t say no at the time. If you are in that position, then why not? Joe Root is the only one who has come close to the record. Earlier, people used to talk about how records are meant to be broken," he added.

While breaching Tendulkar’s 51 Test tons record seems a bit far-fetched, Root can certainly displace former Indian captain from the top of the leading run scorer in Test cricket list.

Currently, Joe Root has 13,409 runs to his credit in Test cricket and needs 2512 more to reach the summit.

“But realistically, if anyone can challenge this record, it is Joe Root. If he can’t do it, it’ll be even more difficult because Test cricket isn’t played as much now, and no one is even close to that amount of runs. If that 15,921 has to be surpassed, it’ll have to be Joe Root; otherwise, it’ll become very difficult," Patel remarked.