London: Former cricketer Geoffrey Boycott believes Test captain Joe Root has the talent and ability to surpass legendary Sachin Tendulkar as the all-time run scorer in the longest format of the game.
Boycott’s comments came after Joe Root ended his dry run of a big score by slamming two centuries including a double ton in the just-concluded two-match series against Sri Lanka which England won 2-0.
He amassed 426 runs in four innings at an average of 106.50 including two centuries with a high score of 228.
Root, whose next assignment is the four-Test series India starting February 5, also became the fourth-highest run-getter in Test cricket for England and the first ever captain to hit two double-hundreds.
The stylish batsman currently has 8249 runs in 181 innings at an average of 49.39. He is only behind Alastair Cook (12472), Graham Gooch (8900) and Alec Stewert (8463) in England’s all-time run-scorers’ list.
“Forget just scoring more Test runs for England than David Gower, Kevin Pietersen and myself. Joe Root has the potential to play 200 Tests and score more runs than even Sachin Tendulkar,” Boycott wrote in a column for ‘The Telegraph’.
“Root is only 30. He has played 99 Tests and scored 8249 runs already. As long as he does not suffer serious injury there is no reason why he cannot beat Tendulkar’s all-time record of 15,921,” he added.
The 80-year-old Boycott, however, also feels people should not compare Root with stars of bygone eras, rather he should be judged only with his contemporaries.
“His contemporaries, such as Virat Kohli, Steve Smith and Kane Williamson, are wonderful players as well who could also score that many runs. We should enjoy Root and only judge him alongside those guys, not great names of the past because every player is a product of their environment,” he said. (UNI)