Chasing Sachin: Why Joe Root can overhaul Tendulkar’s tally of runs in Test cricket

Joe Root. The man hogged the limelight in 2021. Root experienced a surreal run with the willow in hand in the whites last year. The England skipper scored a staggering 1708 runs in 2021 and averaged a gargantuan 61.00.

And, just two men in the history of the game, Mohammad Yousuf and Vivian Richards have scored more runs than Root in a single calendar year in Test cricket. But then, let us come to a more pertinent question, and that is, can Joe Root go past Sachin Tendulkar’s tally of runs in Test cricket?

Tendulkar scored a colossal 15921 runs in 200 Test matches, and no other batter in the game has even breached the 14000-run mark till date. But, Root has a very realistic chance of going past Tendulkar and becoming the most prolific run-scorer in Test cricket history.

Joe Root and Sachin Tendulkar- A Comparison at the age of 31

Now, Root turned 31 on 30th December 2021. In the table below, let us take a look at the records of Tendulkar and Root at the age of 31 years and 3 days (Root’s current age). The table below will illustrate the same.

At the same age as Root, Tendulkar had played 22 innings lesser in Test cricket and had also scored 61 runs lesser. Even though the Indian batting icon averaged higher than Root and had also scored more hundreds than the England skipper, the key factor is that Root has scored more runs than Tendulkar at the same stage.

Joe Root’s record in Test cricket in the last 5 years

Now, let us look at Joe Root’s record in Test match cricket in the last 5 years. The reason is simple. Root experienced a purple patch in 2021, and it will be highly difficult for him to replicate the success he experienced in 2021 in the coming years. And, his record in the last 5 years will give us a fair idea of how Root has fared with the willow and it will also provide us reasonable sample space to estimate how he might fare in the coming years as well.

Also, it will help us to understand how many Tests Root plays in a single year on an average as well. Let us get going…..

In the last 5 years, Root has played 59 Test matches and 108 innings. And, this means that he plays an average of 11.8 (12 Tests) every year. Also, since he has played 108 innings in the last 5 years, it means that Root has played an average of 21.6 (22 innings) every year.

And 12 Tests every year is a reasonable estimate as well, as England (for now) are slated to play 12 Tests till September 2022 according to their Future Tours Programme (FTP).

Now, Root has currently scored 9531 runs and is exactly 6390 runs short of Tendulkar’s tally. And, if Root can average 47.47 every year (his average in the last 5 years), and if he plays an average of 22 innings every year, he will score 1044 runs every year. And, considering the fact that Root has scored almost 5000 runs (4937) in the last 5 years, an average of 1044 runs per year seems to be a reasonable estimate.

Now, if Root can score 1044 runs every year (this is only an average estimate) for the next 6.5 years, it would mean that he would have aggregated 6786 more runs by the time he is 37 and half years old. And, this would take his tally of Test runs to 16317.

Can Joe Root go past Sachin Tendulkar?

Now. Joe Root is the only batter who has a ‘more than reasonable’ chance of challenging Tendulkar’s run tally in Test cricket. Tendulkar played till the age of 40 and half, and the factor that goes in Root’s favour is, he need not play till 40 to go past Tendulkar, as England play a massive number of Tests every year.

So, one thing is for sure. The way this Root-Tendulkar plot plays out in the coming years will be followed with great curiosity by the cricketing world. And, there is every possibility that when Root retires, he might do so as the highest run-scorer ever in Test cricket.