Sachin Tendulkar’s record: Joe Root not focusing on runs record

Root surpassed Ponting with his 120th run in England’s first innings. Earlier in the knock he also pipped India great Rahul Dravid and legendary South Africa all-rounder Jacques Kallis.

He reached his current position in his 157th Test. Tendulkar played 200 Tests between 1989 and 2013 and played in Root’s debut in India in 2012.

“It’s not something that I will focus on,” Root said.

“Ricky’s someone that I grew up admiring, watching, trying to emulate, copy in the garden and at my local club – trying to play the pull shot that he’s obviously world famous for.

“So even just to be spoken about in the same sentence as those guys, the people that you grew up wanting to emulate and pretending to be is pretty cool.”

Across his career, Root is averaging 85.4 runs per match. At that rate, he would need 30 more Tests to pass Tendulkar.

But since the beginning of 2021 he has averaged 93 runs per Test and since the third Test in India last year, 101 runs in 19.

That would mean he would reach Tendulkar’s haul in 25 Tests’ time, possibly in the summer of 2027 when he would be 36.