‘He surely will come close’ Rashid on Root breaking Tendulkar’s record

KARACHI: Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif has predicted England’s in-form batsman Joe Root will close in on Indian great batsman Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most runs in Test cricket.

England’s best batsman Root, who is in sublime form in the game’s longest format, has sparked debate about how he broke Tendulkar’s all-time record for highest runs in Test cricket by amassing 10,000 runs in the format.

Following Root’s amazing feat, a number of cricketers have made their predictions as to whether the former England Test captain will be able to break Tendulkar’s record, as former Australian captain Mark Taylor was the first to back the former to break the record.

Renowned commentator and former England captain Michael Vaughan also supported Taylor’s prediction later on, calling Root the favorite to break the record for the most runs in Test cricket.

Pakistan’s former captain, Rashid, has now also joined the debate and predicted that Root will surely come closer if he fails to break the record.

“It is something that can be predicted. Some of these players, like Virat Kohli, Babar Azam and Joe Root, can score thousands more runs.

[as] they have a lot of time. Root will keep an eye out for Tendulkar’s feat. Look, certain players left the game a little early or weren’t in good shape,” Latif said on the YouTube show Caught Behind.

“Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting could have been close, but for Root it is important to be in the same form. If in the next 2-3 years he can score 1200-1300 runs, he can get closer. By the time he’s 34-35, he can hope he can top it. Even if he can’t cross, he will surely come closer,” he maintained.

It is pertinent to mention here that Root became the second and youngest English batsman to amass a mark of 10,000 runs in Test cricket after his previous captain, Alastair Cook.

Furthermore, Tendulkar holds the record for the most Test runs with 15,921 in 200 matches, while Root has scored 10,015 runs so far in 118 Tests.

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