Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has backed England batting heavyweight Joe Root to give a serious tussle to Sachin Tendulkar’s unrivalled Test legacy of 15,921 runs after a shock stat reveal during the India vs England 4th Test in Old Trafford on Thursday.
Unbeaten on 11 on Day 2, Root is closing in on the second spot in the Test run-getters list and could overtake batting legends Jacques Kallis (12,289) and Rahul Dravid (12,288) with another 20 runs. Only Ricky Ponting stands between Root and Tendulkar then, having aggregated 13,378 in 167 Tests for Australia.
Noticing that Root could spring up to the second spot quickly, Shastri said that the 34-year-old Root has age on his side to cross Tendulkar and even rack up another 3000 Test runs. Former England opener Michael Atherton chimed in with assistance from Sky Sport statistician Benedict Bermange, who claimed that Root had a 60.28 per cent chance of nudging Tendulkar down from the top of the batting charts, baffling Shastri.
“Look at his age. Look at the number of matches. He’s played 157. So you would imagine he would go past three ahead of him in almost three Test matches. And then he’s got about 40 Test matches. Sachin has played 200 Tests. Root has played 160. He’s still young. He has four years of cricket ahead of him. And what will separate him and Tendulkar will be around 3,000 runs. When you’re hot, you’re hot, and in the meantime, he has age on his side,” said Shastri.
“Benedict reliably informed me that he’s got a 60.28% chance of beating Sachin Tendulkar. I don’t know how he worked that out,” Atherton responded.
‘He’ll be cursed’
Atherton cautioned Root on air of a curse from a million Indian fans after the late data-driven jolt on Thursday.
“I tell you that it won’t be music to the ears of the Indians. It’s just coming about to bedtime in India, and you’ve given us a stat — 60.28,” Shastri said.
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Atherton added: “He’ll be cursed. Millions of homes around Mumbai right now.”
The former England skipper, however, said Root’s numbers will remain unprecedented in Test cricket if he indeed manages to go past Tendulkar.
“Wherever Joe Root finishes, say, for example, he went past Sachin. I’m not so sure anybody will go past that just because of the nature of the way the game is going. People will play fewer Test matches, I would imagine, in the years to come,” he said.
