"I just want.." Joe Root breaks silence on approaching Sachin Tendulkar's record for most test runs

Joe Root smashed centuries in both innings of the ongoing second test against Sri Lanka at the Lord’s.

Veteran England cricketer Joe Root finally opened up on approaching legendary Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar’s record of most runs in test cricket. 

In the ongoing second test match against Sri Lanka at the Lord’s, Root hammered his 34th test hundred in the second innings and shattered Alastair Cook’s record of most test centuries by an English batter in test cricket. Root scored 103 runs off 121 deliveries. Cook had scored 33 hundreds in his test career.

Root had also smashed a crucial century in the first innings of the ongoing second test against Sri Lanka, making 143 runs off 206 balls.

Root has a great chance to become England’s all-time highest run scorer in test cricket in the upcoming final test match against Sri Lanka at the Oval. Root is just 95 runs behind Sir Alastair Cook’s tally of 12472 runs in test cricket.

Score runs as many as I can and see where we get to: Joe Root

Many cricket pundits believe that Root might shatter Sachin Tendulkar’s all-time record of most runs in test cricket. After smashing twin centuries at the Lord’s, Root shared his thoughts on the prospect of becoming the leading run-getter in the longest format.

Root said that he isn’t chasing any milestone or record and is just focused on scoring as many runs for his side.

“I just want to play, and try, and do my bit for the team and score the runs as many as I can and see where we get to. But there’s no better feeling I mean, it’s obviously amazing when, you score 100, you’d be lying if you said it wasn’t, a big part of why you start playing the game and what you love about it,” said Root in a video shared by England Cricket.

“But there’s no better feeling than winning a Test match. So the more, it can affect games and the more you can, add to the team, the greater it is. So, that will be the main focus. And hopefully more days like this will come with that mentality,” he added.

Joe Root is 3545 runs away to become highest run-scorer in tests

Legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar is the highest run-getter in test cricket with 15921 runs in 200 matches. Root, currently at 12377 runs, is just 3,544 runs away from equaling Tendulkar’s historic record. Given Root’s form in recent years, the 33-year-old is likely to surpass Sachin by the time he retires.

Most runs in test cricket:

• Sachin Tendulkar (IND) – 15921 runs
• Ricky Ponting (AUS) – 13378 runs
• Jacques Kallis (SA) – 13289 runs
• Rahul Dravid (IND) – 13288 runs
• Alastair Cook (ENG) – 12472 runs
• Kumar Sangakkara (SL) – 12400 runs
• Joe Root (ENG) – 12377 runs

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