Joe Root on potentially breaking Sachin Tendulkar's Test runs record: 'I just want to play and do my bit for the team'

England batter Joe Root came up with a straightforward answer when he was asked about possibly breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most runs in Test cricket. Root, who has scored centuries in both innings of the ongoing second Test against Sri Lanka at Lord’s, is currently in seventh place in the top Test run-getters list.

Root has scored 12,377 runs from 145 Tests, whereas Sachin Tendulkar ended his career with 15,921 runs in the longest format. That leaves the 33 year-old with 3544 runs behind the Master Blaster.

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“I just want to play, and try, and do my bit for the team and score the runs as many as I can and see where we get to. But there’s no better feeling I mean, it’s obviously amazing when, you score 100, you’d be lying if you said it wasn’t, a big part of why you start playing the game and what you love about it,” the Sheffield-born cricketer said in a video that was shared by England Cricket.

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1️⃣ Sachin Tendulkar - 15921 runs
⬆️ Joe Root - 12377 runs

Half an eye on Sachin's record, Joe? 👀

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 31, 2024

“But there’s no better feeling than winning a Test match. So the more, it can affect games and the more you can, add to the team, the greater it is. So, that will be the main focus. And hopefully more days like this will come with that mentality,” added the former captain.

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With his century in the second innings against Sri Lanka on Saturday, Root surpassed Alastair Cook to become the England batter with most Test hundreds. That was the right-handed batter’s 34th Test ton, whereas Cook had ended his Test career with 33 hundreds. England lead the three-match series against Sri Lanka 1-0 following a five-wicket win in Manchester.