Manchester, July 27:In sport, history is often made in whispers before it roars. In 2001, a ponytailed 19-year-old named Roger Federer stunned Pete Sampras at Wimbledon, ending the American’s reign and heralding the arrival of a new king.
That lone encounter was a passing of the torch, almost imperceptible in the moment, but obvious in hindsight.
Fast forward to Nagpur, 2012. Joe Root, barely out of his teenage years and not yet a household name, was handed his Test debut against India. On a dusty pitch spinning sideways, England’s latest batting prodigy looked calm beyond his years. He wore a navy blue England cap like a crown and scored a composed 73 and 20 not out. England drew the match and clinched a historic 2-1 series win — their first on Indian soil in nearly three decades.
In the Indian dressing room stood a man who was the heartbeat of cricket for an entire generation — Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. That series would be the last time Tendulkar and Root would share the same cricket field. At 39, the Little Master’s glittering journey was drawing to a close. He would play only six more Tests and never again reach three figures. He bowed out in 2013 with a scarcely believable tally of 15,921 Test runs.
No one knew it then, but a new chase had quietly begun. The fresh-faced Yorkshireman, unknown to most outside the English county circuit, had set off on a long and lonely trail. A trail that may now, thirteen years later, lead all the way to Tendulkar.
On a bright Friday in Manchester, Joe Root produced yet another masterclass in batting — his 38th Test hundred, a knock so precise and poised it could’ve been scripted. As he stroked, glanced, and nudged his way around the ground with that characteristic Rootian rhythm, he wasn’t just building an innings — he was scaling a mountain.
In the process, Root overtook Rahul Dravid and Jacques Kallis on the all-time Test run-scorers list. First Dravid, then Kallis — two titans of the game dismissed with a couple of understated singles. Root raised his bat with a sheepish grin, modest even in the face of monumental achievement. The crowd at Old Trafford, ever attuned to cricketing history, responded with thunderous applause.
Then came another milestone. With a neat steer past point, he left Ricky Ponting behind as well, moving into third place in the pantheon. “Call Sydney,” someone shouted. “Tell them ours has more than yours.”
Root eventually fell to Ravindra Jadeja on 150, his innings a blend of patience, elegance, and flawless shot selection. The man who debuted alongside him all those years ago had finally broken through. The gap to Tendulkar now stands at 2,512 runs. The summit, once mythical, is suddenly visible.
Root’s Test career spans 157 matches and over 13 years. He averages 85.4 runs per match, an astonishing rate of consistency. At that pace, he would need roughly 30 more Tests to surpass Tendulkar. England’s Test schedule till the end of summer 2027 offers around 26 matches, including Ashes battles, subcontinental tours, and the potential World Test Championship final. Add a few more beyond that — say early 2028 — and the math begins to work in Root’s favour.
But here’s the twist: Root is not just maintaining his output; he’s accelerating. Since the start of 2021, across 60 Tests, Root is averaging an eye-watering 93 runs per match. And since that infamous reverse scoop against Jasprit Bumrah last year — a moment that drew widespread criticism — he has responded with icy defiance, averaging 101 runs in his next 19 matches.
At that clip, Tendulkar’s record could fall during the 2027 Ashes at The Oval. Imagine that — Root reaching 15,922 runs in front of a home crowd, lifting the urn after a 5-0 sweep of Australia. A national holiday would not be out of the question.
And yet, despite the towering records, there remains one blot on Root’s otherwise imperious Test CV — a century in Australia. Three tours, 14 Tests, and not a single three-figure score. The 2013-14 tour saw him dropped for the final Test. In 2017-18, he collapsed from exhaustion in the searing Sydney heat. In 2021-22, he battled courageously, even taking a nasty blow to the groin in Adelaide.(Agencies)
