- By Namrata Vijay
- Sat, 26 Jul 2025 12:39 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
IND vs ENG 4th Test: England's star batter Ollie Pope has reckoned that if Joe Root does play a few more Test matches then he would be motivated to break legendary Sachin Tendulkar's record, who had scored a mammoth amount of 15921 runs in the longest format as Root surpassed lots of legends on the third day of the ongoing Test match. He has currently scored 13409 runs in this format and is just 2512 runs short of Tendulkar's record.
Root has a batting average of 52.17 and will have to play in 50 more Test matches to break Tendulkar's record.
He also broke Ricky Ponting's record and became the second-highest run-scorer in this format.
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“He loves playing for England in Tests more than anything, so I’m sure if his body allows, he’ll be driven to make it to number one, but I think he just wants to keep playing for as long as he can," Pope told reporters during the post-match press conference.
“The excitement he still has to play Tests, he’s always got the biggest smile on his face. The hunger he has for it, I wouldn’t be surprised if he could chase him down," he said.
Did Root know that he had broken Ponting's record of being the second-highest run-scorer?
“He’s not a big one for landmarks, but that’s a pretty cool one. Becoming the second-highest Test run-scorer is just incredible. I’m sure he knew what that number was, but he’s not a guy who wants to shout about those things as well," he revealed.
“Hopefully, we can get a win and if we put ourselves in that position, then he’ll enjoy that even more, but it’s a pretty cool thing to have," he said.
Pope also talked about their plans for Day 4 and emphasised that they want to bat just once during the ongoing match.
“The plan is just to get as many as we can. I think this wicket will deteriorate over the next two days, so there’s going to be a real focus to drive that lead on to as big as we can and then put as much pressure on with the ball as we can too," he concluded.