In the first Test between England and New Zealand on Sunday at Lord’s, former England skipper Joe Root became only the second cricketer from his country to score 10,000 Test runs. His unbeaten 115 took England to a target of 277 and a five-wicket victory over the Kiwis.
Root gave up his captaincy in the aftermath of the Ashes debacle. In 2017, he had succeeded Alastair Cook as captain, and led England in 64 Tests, winning 27.
Root is the 14th cricketer overall to get to 10,000 runs in Test cricket and in the wake of this huge feat, former England skipper Michael Vaughan has opined that Root is capable of surpassing Sachin Tendulkar's record of 15921 runs in Tests. Tendulkar is the highest run-scorer in Test history, a record, Vaughan believes, is in danger.
"Joe Root is England's best ever - now Sachin Tendulkar should watch out", Vaughan wrote in his column for The Telegraph. "For me Joe Root stands alongside Graham Gooch as England's greatest batsmen and the way he is going he could surpass Sachin Tendulkar's record for the most Test runs. He is still 6,000 short of Sachin's total but he is only 31 and if James Anderson can play until he is 40 then I think Joe can too,” Vaughan added.
Currently, Root has 10015 runs in 118 Tests at an average of 49.57. This includes 26 centuries and 53 fifties.
