'Prolific Joe Root has potential to surpass Tendulkar's Test record'

The legendary Geoffrey Boycott believes prolific England captain Joe Root has the potential and talent to surpass Indian great Sachin Tendulkar as the alltime run scorer in Test cricketRoot 30 amassed 426 runs in four innings at an average of 10650 including two centuries with a high score of 228 in the justconcluded 20 series sweep over Sri LankaRoot whose next assignment is the fourTest series India starting February 5 also became the fourthhighest rungetter in Test cricket for England and the first ever captain to hit two doublehundredsForget 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 TelegraphRoot 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 Tendulkars alltime record of 15921Boycott however doesnt want people to compare Root with stars of bygone eras saying he should be judged only with his contemporariesHis 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 saidThe 80yearold England batting great observed that Root has worked on his batting during the COVIDenforced break but said the righthander will face his biggest test on Australia soilUntil this tour Joe had not been making the big scores that influence matches Perhaps the COVID19 lockdowns allowed him time to take stock of his batting For too long he appeared to be influenced by Twenty20 cricket He was trying to force his way back into Englands T20 side but that frenetic type of batting is not for him Boycott saidI felt that when playing Test cricket his subconscious was telling him to try to score off almost every ball He was opening the face of the bat to good length balls trying to run it to third man working straight balls to leg and even when he defended a really good ball he would set off for a run In other words he was trying to avoid a dot ball Against topclass Test bowlers that is not possibleJoes biggest test will be against pace in Australia but right now by not batting in a gungho style he has settled down and is giving himself a chance to bat bigThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever