Root still getting to terms on being the 2nd-highest Test run getter with only Sachin Tendulkar ahead of him.
Root revels in ‘pinch-yourself moment’ after moving to No. 2.
Joe Root said that he had a “pinch-yourself moment” when he became the second-highest run scorer in Test history, but he would not venture to claim Sachin Tendulkar’s record. With his 150 against India in Manchester, Root passed Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, and Ricky Ponting on the all-time list. He is currently 2,512 runs behind Tendulkar’s total of 15,921.
In Multan last year, he became England’s all-time top run scorer, but Root has continuously downplayed the importance of the records he has set in recent years. He did, however, acknowledge that it was “pretty cool” to see his name close to the top of a list of batters he aspired to be like as a boy.
“When you look at the names there on that list, they are all people that, as a kid growing up, that’s who I would try to be in the garden, on the street, on the driveway, at my local club,” Root told Sky Sports. “One day I’d try to be Ricky Ponting, the next I’d try to be Kumar Sangakkara or Brian Lara.
“I’d pretend that I was in different parts of the world, scoring Test-match hundreds. Even just to be mentioned in the same sentence as these guys is a bit of a pinch-yourself moment. It is pretty cool, yeah.”
Root is now closer to Tendulkar’s record total than any other batter in history, having only faced him once, during his Test debut in Nagpur in 2012. He told the BBC, “I will not be concentrating on it.” “Things like that ought to take care of themselves. Winning games must be the main objective.
“He made his Test debut before I was born. To be playing on the same ground as him and to get the chance to play against him was incredibly cool. [He was] someone you grew up watching, admiring, trying to learn from… To get to play in a series where he was still playing was really quite a memorable experience that I’ll never forget.”