England batter Joe Root is on a record-breaking spree in Test cricket lately. During the recently held Test series against Sri Lanka, he overtook Sir Alastair Cook to become the most century maker for England in the longest format of the game.
Considering Root’s prolific form in recent years, discussions have started about whether the England batter can break Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar's record of 15921 runs, the most ever by a batter in Test cricket.
Recently, England Test captain Ben Stokes backed his teammate to go past Tendulkar's record tally of runs in the longest format of the game.
Not counting his ongoing Test innings against Pakistan in Multan, Joe Root stands 3,520 runs short of surpassing Tendulkar’s elusive feat.
"Look, he is 33. He has played some 100 games in a row. I don't know. He can easily go until he is 37, 38 or even 39. He plays all the Test matches from now until then, I don't see why not. He is too good a player to at least get close to. I personally will be backing him to go past it," said Stokes in a video shared by ECB on social media.
His comments came after Root dethroned Cook (12,472) to become England's leading Test run-scorer in the ongoing Multan Test against Pakistan.
Stokes further highlighted that ‘selflessness’ is the standout feature of Root’s batting and claimed it would take a long time for a player to come in and break his England record.
"To score that many runs, you have to think that there has to be a bit of selfishness about the player. But everything that he has done with the bat in his hand, has always been about the team. I remember a couple of years ago, he was getting stick for converting his fifties into hundreds. I just couldn't get my head around it."
"From my point of view, when I looked at how many hundreds Joe scored and how many games we have won, that's what I look at."
"The selflessness he has is an incredible attribute for him. He always puts the team first. It's going to take a long, long time for someone to come in and break that record," said Stokes.
