"Not something I will focus on" – Joe Root's first reaction on nearing Sachin Tendulkar's record of most runs in test cricket

Joe Root is currently the second-highest run-scorer in test cricket.

Joe Root claimed that bringing in Sachin Tendulkar is not a big concern after he climbed to second place on the all-time test run-scorers list.

With a spectacular 150 against India in the fourth test of the ongoing series on Friday, Root quickly passed Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis, and Rahul Dravid, becoming the second greatest run-getter in tests of all time.

With a mountainous 15,921 runs, Tendulkar is the only player ahead of Root, who has closed to 2,512, with Ponting among those who believe the Yorkshireman may still be able to win the Little Master. He now has 13,409 test runs.

I need to do to help England win – Joe Root not focused on breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record

Root is certain that people will be wondering if he can catch Tendulkar, but he insists that it is not the be-all and end-all for him. Root has accumulated 21 centuries since turning 30 four years ago.

“I can’t avoid it – they’re everywhere. Those sorts of things should look after themselves. The focus has to be about winning games, setting them up if we’re earlier on in the Test match, and if we need to chase something down, figuring out how to play that situation well. It might sound a little bit boring and methodical, but ultimately that’s what I need to do to help England win, and that’s why we play the game,” Root told BCC test Match Special.

Since the beginning of 2021, Root has been in incredible form, scoring 5,586 runs at an average of 56.42. The 34-year-old acknowledged that a significant factor in his recent surge was some self-reflection during COVID.

“It’s not something that I will focus on. Ricky’s someone that I grew up admiring, watching, trying to emulate, copying 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,” he added.

Root is currently scoring 85.4 runs per test match on average during his career. If he continues to score runs at the same pace, he would need 30 more tests to pass Tendulkar as the highest run-scorer in tests.

However, he has averaged 93 runs a test since the start of 2021 and 101 runs in 19 tests since the third test in India last year. That would put him on pace to surpass Tendulkar’s total in 25 test matches, perhaps by the time he is 36 in the summer of 2027.

“I actually spoke to Nass quite a bit. I said, ‘Can I get some footage?’ and just looked at modes of dismissal and if there were any trends and saw the different ways I was getting out at different points in my innings. One thing I’ve done within that period is actually try and look at the game slightly differently.

“For that start of my career, a lot of it was based on my technique: where my hands are, where my head is, am I lined up, is my trigger right? Whereas in this second phase of things, it’s been more about managing risk and thinking, how can I eliminate as many modes of dismissal as possible with the highest output?”  Root told Sky Cricket.

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