Ponting backs Root to break Tendulkar's record of most Test runs

New Delhi, Aug 15: Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting feels that England batter Joe Root will surpass legendary Sachin Tendulkar's all-time record of most runs in Test cricket in the coming years.

The former England captain recently completed 12,000 Test runs during the three-match home Test series against West Indies. In 143 Tests, Root has accumulated 12,027 runs at an average of 50.11 including 32 centuries and 63 half-centuries. He is currently seventh on the list of highest run-getters in Test cricket.

The right-handed batter is 1,351 runs short of Ponting's total of 13,378 runs and nearly 4,000 runs behind Tendulkar's record of 15,921 runs. He can close this gap further during his team’s ICC World Test Championship series against Sri Lanka, which begins later this month.

"He could potentially do that," Ponting told host Sanjana Ganesan in the latest edition of the ICC Review when asked if Root could overtake Tendulkar's massive tally of runs in Test cricket.

"He is 33 years of age…(more than) 3000 runs behind. It depends how many Test matches they play, but if they're playing 10 to 14 Test matches a year and if you're scoring 800 to 1000 runs a year, then that sort of says he's only three or four years off getting there. So that'll take him to 37 (years of age).

"If his hunger's still there, then there's every chance he could do it," he added.

The 33-year-old scored his fourth red-ball century of the year last month and has converted his starts to big scores that set him apart from other batters, opined Ponting.

"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," Ponting said.

"It's been his conversion rates being the big thing. Four or five years ago, he was making a lot of 50s and struggling to go on and make hundreds and he's gone the other way recently. Almost every time he gets to 50 now, he goes on and makes a big hundred. So that's been the real turnaround for him," he added.