Joe Root has every chance to overtake Sachin Tendulkar: David Lloyd

Joe Root scored his 34th Test ton yesterday (August 31) to surpass Sir Alastair Cook’s record of 33 Test centuries for England. He had earlier equalled his record of tons in the first innings of the ongoing second Test match, scoring 143. 

In the second innings, he batted in a higher gear but played risk-free cricket to score a century in just 111 balls, his fastest in Test cricket. He has broken many records since 2021, scoring 17 centuries in 48 Tests. For comparison, Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, and Kane Williamson have scored 17 tons combined in 78 Tests in this period. 

With this 34th Test ton, Root equalled the Test centuries record of Sunil Gavaskar, Mahela Jayawardene, Brian Lara, and Younis Khan. He also has the most Test centuries among active cricketers and the most Test centuries at Lord’s for any Test batter. 

Root only needs 23 more runs to get past Kumar Sangakkara and 123 runs to overtake Alastair Cook on the list of the highest run scorers in Test cricket. Once he overcomes that, only Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis, and Rahul Dravid’s run tally stands higher than Root’s. 

With 3,544 more runs needed to usurp Tendulkar’s place at the top of Test run-scoring charts, and with age on his side a bit, Root can make a last dash for it. Former England batter David Lloyd believes he has "every chance" to get there. Writing for the Daily Mail, Lloyd wrote:

“That was a sublime, effortless hundred from Root. He’s one of those players where you look at the scoreboard and wonder how he’s got to 40. 

His strokeplay, footwork and head position are all in sync: it’s no accident he scores runs,” Lloyd remarked in his column. 

With the amount of Test cricket England play and his skill, there’s every chance he’ll overtake Sachin Tendulkar’s world-record 15,921 runs.”

Also read - How long will it take for Root to surpass Sachin?

He also recommended England’s interim skipper Ollie Pope to do what Root has been doing to score runs, and not “try to be something he isn’t.”

“Ollie Pope is such a cultured player, but he’s trying to be something he isn’t,” Lloyd wrote. 

“His dismissal in England’s second innings was another example of him trying to reinvent the wheel. Just do what Joe Root does, Ollie! Keep the board moving, look busy, pick off the ones and twos. Take stock of what you’re good at, and stop being so frenetic,” Lloyd wrote.

“I must confess, I’ve never really thought of Pope as a No 3, but this England team like a risk, don’t they? I wonder, though, if they’ll look at him and say an average of 34 from 48 Tests isn’t up to the mark,” he added.

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