File photo of Joe Root.© AFP
Joe Root is going through the form of his life in Test cricket. The star batter scored two hundreds across two innings in the second Test of the ongoing three-match series vs Sri Lanka. The twin tons also saw Root going past Alastair Cook to become the England batter with most centuries in Test cricket. Root now has 34 to his credit, one more than that of retired player Cook. The right-handed batter, who is 33 years old, has over 12 thousand Test runs to his credit and he is quite close to the all-time record of India great Sachin Tendulkar.
Sachin tops the run-scorers' chart with 15921 runs in Test cricket. When asked during an interaction whether Root will be able to surpass Sachin, former England captain Michael Vaughan replied with a "yes".
"I think it's three and a half thousand runs he trails by. He has three years. Unless his back snaps; he is the most enthusiastic lover of the game. I don't think he is going to get away. He is no longer the captain and knows his game better than ever before. I'll be amazed if he doesn't. He has played beautifully," said Vaughan during a discussion on said on Club Prairie Fire podcast.
Vaughan added that the BCCI would never want an England player to go on top of list, replacing an Indian.
"If Joe goes past Sachin, it will be the best thing that would ever happen to Test cricket, because there's no way BCCI would want an England player at the top of the list. They'll want an Indian at the top so that will secure Test match cricket because it'll take forever for someone to get past him," he added.
Legendary Australia wicketkeeper-batter Adam Gilchrist, who was also present in the discussion, said, "Don't know. How old is he? 33? He's a youngster. I have no idea when his appetite is going to slow down. He is clearly pretty hungry at the moment. But does he have the desire to go on? He is going to phase himself out of white ball completely. Sorry, I will answer that question about Joe after the Ashes next year."