Joe Root:His outing against New Zealand in the 2nd Test is not one of those innings that usually finds a place in the highlights package.Scores of 21 and 18 at Trent Bridge did little to prevent England falling to a 1-2 series defeat after taking an early lead. Ben Stokes’ decision to retire from Test cricket dominated the headlines and England were left searching for answers after another series that promised so much but delivered so little. When the game ended, however, another number quietly moved on.Root’s career tally now stands at 14,114 Test runs from 166 Tests. Only one man has scored more runs in the history of Test cricket. Sachin TendulkarThe number of 15,921, once comfortably invisible, is now 1,807 runaways.By itself, that doesn’t necessarily make it a threatened record. Cricket is here.When Ricky Ponting crossed 13,000 runs, it was discussed whether he would get there. The same thing happened when Jacques Kallis kept running every season. Kumar Sangakkara’s remarkable finish to his career briefly reopened the debate. Alastair Cook, England’s highest run-scorer before Root, played 161 Tests and retired with more than 12,000 runs.One by one they went up the list. Individually, they finished short.For most of the last decade, Tendulkar’s record has remained exactly where he retired in 2013 – visible, admired and rarely talked about as something that might be broken.However, Root changed that. Not only because he has reached 14,000 runs, but he has surpassed them all.
Simply put, the chase is on and the obvious way to see the chase is through simple arithmetic. Root needs another 1,807 runs and England have a packed Test schedule over the next two seasons.He remains their premier batter and, unlike many players in their mid-thirties, shows little sign of a continued decline in either form or health. And seeing how he is racking up runs, the record could see another 18 to 21 Tests if he continues his career scoring rate.But will he finally reach that mark? And where is he now placed in the pursuit of it compared to others who may have a chance to reach the summit?Bring on Ponting, Kallis or Cook.All three crossed 12,000 Test runs. All three years were spent among the world’s leading batters. But when they reached their mid-thirties, the gap with Tendulkar became huge. They still scored runs, but not enough to seriously threaten the record.And here the Root is different. At the age of 35, he has amassed more runs than Tendulkar did at the same age.
To some extent, age is a unique way to compare batting careers. Most records are measured in matches, innings, or runs. Yet age often tells a different story.Tendulkar made his Test debut at 16 and spent almost a quarter of a century in international cricket. Root arrived late, at the age of 21, but has scored at such a consistent rate over the past decade that he has effectively erased a five-year head start.That’s what makes this pursuit unlike any other. For the first time since Tendulkar’s retirement, the record was not discussed as another batter reached the milestone.However, there is another side to the story. Because while Root is ahead of the timeline, many of the batting numbers that define greatness still belong to Tendulkar.Tendulkar’s career average is higher. He scored more runs every time he came out to bat. He achieved big milestones in fewer innings and converted fifty-plus scores into hundreds more often.Although Root became the youngest batter to 10,000 Test runs, Tendulkar reached the landmark in fewer innings. The same pattern continued at 14,000. Root got there much younger. Tendulkar got there faster.
And what really works in Root’s favor is the fact that England have played more Test cricket than almost anywhere else in the last decade. Root rarely misses a game. Best of all, he was rarely gone for long.Each large batter passes through thin patches. Ponting did. Cook did. Even Tendulkar had times when hundreds dried up. Root’s remarkable consistency since 2021 prevented that from happening.He continues to score runs regardless of the opposition or conditions and, just as importantly, continues to make himself available. An innings can be another Test. A series becomes another summer at home. Over fourteen years, the extra opportunities have accumulated to a lead that none of Tendulkar’s previous challengers have been able to build.
After 25 Tests, Root established himself in England’s middle order. At the age of 50, he has crossed 4,000 runs. And the milestones kept coming – 75 Tests, 100 Tests, 125 and then 150. At each stage, the gap between him and Tendulkar narrowed, not because of an extraordinary season but because the accumulation never stopped.There are other comparisons that highlight how different the exposure of the two careers is.
Tendulkar has scored more Test runs away from home than in India, averaging better overseas than on familiar pitches. This remains one of the less famous aspects of his career.The root division is different. His strongest numbers came in England, although one opposition shaped his record more than any other. Against India, Root scored more than 3,300 Test runs and 13 centuries, making it the most productive match of his career. Australia remains a major opponent against whom his return does little to match the rest of his record.While these numbers help explain the careers, they don’t necessarily explain the record. For that, it helps to see how much weight Tendulkar gained after 35. By the time Tendulkar turned 35, he had achieved almost everything a Test batter could hope for. He has crossed 12,000 runs, but almost 4,000 runs are still ahead of him.Those years rarely dominate the conversation of Tendulkar’s career. Fans remember the straight drive in Perth, the duels with Shane Warne and the Desert Storm innings in Sharjah, even though they came in one-day cricket. The record itself, however, is protected by what happened afterward.He continued to play. He kept scoring.
And this is the phase Root has just entered. The numbers suggest that he has given himself the best chance any batsman has had since Tendulkar retired.They have no guarantee beyond that. The remaining 1,807 runs are unlikely to be decided by a productive summer or a trip abroad. They will depend on something more difficult to predict. fitness, selection, and whether Root can avoid the gradual decline that eventually catches up with every Test batter.England’s schedule certainly gives him an opportunity.
And so Root’s chase feels different than that surrounding Ponting, Kallis or Cook. Previous challengers have tried to get Tendulkar’s total. Root has caught the phase of the career that matters.What lies ahead is the phase that made 15,921 possible in the first place. Whether he gets there will only be known in the next two or three years.Currently, one thing has changed.For more than a decade, Tendulkar’s record was untouched because no one was able to reach this point with enough runs behind them.Root has, and the pursuit is no longer hypothetical. It finally came true.