England Batting great Geoffrey Boycott feels that Joe root has the potential and talent to surpass Sachin Tendulkar as the all-time run-scorer in red-ball cricket.
Joe root was in a red hot form as the talismanic batsman amassed a startling 426 runs at a stunning average of 106.50 in four innings including two centuries with a high score of 228 in the just-concluded 2-0 series sweep over the island nation.
However, with his stunning batting show of 186 runs in the recently concluded second Test match, Joe Root surpassed Kevin Pietersen and David Gower to become the fourth-highest run-scorer for England in Tests with just Alec Stewart, Graham Gooch, and Sir Alastair Cook ahead of him.
Talking about Joe Root surpassing Kevin Pietersen and David Gower for England’s 4th highest Test scorer, Geoffrey Boycott said that he has the potential to score more runs than even Sachin Tendulkar.
“Forget just scoring more Test runs for England than David Gower, Kevin Pietersen, and myself. Joe Root has the potential to play 200 Tests and score more runs than even Sachin Tendulkar. Root is only 30.
He has played 99 Tests and scored 8249 runs already. As long as he does not suffer serious injury there is no reason why he cannot beat Tendulkar’s all-time record of 15,921.” Geoffrey Boycott wrote in a column for ‘The Telegraph’.
Boycott, however, doesn’t want people to compare Root with stars of bygone eras, saying he should be judged only by his contemporaries.
“His contemporaries, such as Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, and Kane Williamson, are wonderful players as well who could also score that many runs. We should enjoy Root and only judge him alongside those guys, not great names of the past because every player is a product of their environment,” he said.
Pointing to his Sri Lanka knocks, the 80-year-old feels that Root worked on his batting during the COVID-19 enforced break and said he was influenced by T20 cricket earlier.
“Until this tour, Joe had not been making the big scores that influence matches. Perhaps the COVID-19 lockdowns allowed him time to take stock of his batting. For too long he appeared to be influenced by Twenty20 cricket. He was trying to force his way back into England’s T20 side, but that frenetic type of batting is not for him,” Boycott said.
Boycott talked about Joe Root's gameplan in Sri Lanka but added a caveat that the same might not work against a top-class bowling attack and said that the right-hander will face his biggest test on Australian soil.
“I felt that when playing Test cricket his subconscious was telling him to try to score off almost every ball. He was opening the face of the bat to good length balls trying to run it to the third man, working straight balls to leg, and even when he defended a really good ball he would set off for a run. In other words, he was trying to avoid a dot ball. Against top-class Test bowlers that is not possible,” he said
“Joe’s biggest test will be against pace in Australia but, right now, by not batting in a gung-ho style, he has settled down and is giving himself a chance to bat big,” he added.
Joe Root, whose next assignment is the four-match Test series against India starting February 5, also was awarded the Man of the Series for his tally of 426 runs in four innings against Sri Lanka.
(PTI Inputs)
