Records ‘look after themselves’ – Root on Tendulkar’s target

Batter Joe Root says he won’t concentrate on overcoming Sachin Tendulkar’s Test run-rate record for the rest of his career.

On day four of the fourth Test against India at Old Trafford on Friday, Root, 34, moved up to second place in the list.

He is now 13-409 Test runs, 2 fewer than India legend Tendulkar’s record of 512.

According to Root, “Those kinds of things should look after themselves,”

“The key to success in a game has to be winning, setting up the match, and finding a way to handle that situation well,” he said.

In England’s first innings, Root overran Ponting with his 120th run. He also defeated legendary South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis and legendary India great Rahul Dravid earlier in the match.

In his 157th Test, he moved into where he is now. Between 1989 and 2013, Tendulkar participated in Root’s India debut in 2012.

It’s not something I’ll concentrate on, Root said.

I spent my entire childhood admiring, watching, trying to emulate, copying in the garden and at my neighborhood club, trying to play the pull shot that is undoubtedly world famous for.

The people you grew up wanting to emulate and pretend to be are pretty cool, even just to be mentioned in the same sentence as those guys.

Root averages 88.4% runs per match throughout his career. He would need 30 more Tests to pass Tendulkar at that rate.

But he has averaged 93 runs per Test since the start of 2021, and 101 runs per Test since the third test in India last year.

Root praised his improvement through his interactions with former England captain and TV pundit Nasser Hussain during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Root told Sky Sports, “I actually spoke to Nass a lot.”

“I asked, “Can you please send me some footage?” and only examine the modes of dismissal to determine whether there were any trends or patterns in how I was batting at various times throughout my innings.

One thing I did while playing the game was to try to see it a little differently.

“A lot of it was based on my technique at the beginning of my career: where my hands are, where my head is, where I’m positioned, and where I’m positioned, right? “