'This star cricketer can break Sachin Tendulkar's record in...': Ricky Ponting

Former Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting has confidence in England’s Joe Root to outdo Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 15,921 runs in Test cricket. Root completed 12,000 runs during the Test match against the West Indies at Edgbaston.

At the moment, Root has 12027 Test runs in 143 Tests and averages 50. 11 with 32 centuries and 63 fifties. Second on the list is Ponting with 13,378 runs and he was quick to point out that Root’s success will depend on his willingness to get big scores and perform well in the next few years.

He said, “If his hunger's still there, then there's every chance that he could do it. He is someone that in the last couple of years has got better and better. There's always talk around batters reaching their prime in their early 30s and he's certainly done that. It's been his conversion rates being the big thing."

He pointed out that if England is featuring in 10 to 14 Tests every year and Root is getting 800 to 1,000 runs per year, then he could reach Tendulkar’s mark before he turns 37. Ponting noted Root’s improvement in the past few months of converting fifties into hundreds, which has boosted his run-scoring prowess. ‘Four or five years ago, he was scoring a lot of fifties and finding it hard to kick on and make hundreds,’ said Ponting, adding that Root now does this on a regular basis.

Root has also set his sights on going past Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara and former England teammate Alastair Cook, who have accumulated 12,400 and 12,472 runs respectively. The way Root is going at the moment and his commitment to the cause, it seems less of a long shot that he will eclipse Tendulkar’s tally in the near future, opined Ponting.