Nick Compton backs Joe Root to surpass Sachin Tendulkar in Tests

England star Joe Root is going through a purple patch in his career. The former English captain has established himself as the best batter in the purest format of the game. With 10,285 runs to his name in 120 Test matches at an average of 50.17, Root is the only active player in line to break Sachin Tendulkar’s glorious Test record.

Tendulkar scored 15,921 runs in 200 Test matches at an average of 53.8. The feat seemed unreachable for the ages. However, Root’s phenomenal performance in the recent past has turned him into the prime contender to become the top scorer in Test cricket. 

The batter recently smacked his 27th Test century to equal the record held by his contemporaries Virat Kohli and Steve Smith. However, with  Root on a run-spree for the past two years, former England batter Nick Compton has backed him to leapfrog Tendulkar. 

Compton, who smacked 775 runs for England from 16 Tests, believes only an injury or a significant dip in the form can prevent Root from going past the Indian great. 

“Joe Root is young and is right up there with Tendulkar in terms of runs scored at 31 [years of age]. Barring a loss of fitness or a major injury, it’s hard not to see someone playing like him scoring runs. Joe is an incredible player. When you think of his consistency, he scores runs every time he bats. 

“Between now and Tendulkar’s record, if he can keep going like this, he’ll get there. If there’s a big slump in his form, how will he respond and get through that? That will be the next big challenge for him. At the moment, there’s nothing stopping him. It would be an amazing achievement if he breaks Tendulkar’s record,” Nick Compton added while speaking to Sportskeeda.

Meanwhile, Compton also mentioned Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara as two vital cogs in the Indian Test team. The England opener believes that the two veteran players will have to play a significant role for India to win the one-off Test match against England in Birmingham. 

Notably, both Kohli and Pujara haven’t enjoyed much success in international cricket recently. Kohli is going through a lean patch as he is yet to reach a three-digit figure since November 2019. Pujara, on the other hand, is making a comeback to the team after being dropped for the last series against Sri Lanka. 

“Fundamentally, Kohli and [Cheteshwar] Pujara are two vital cogs in this Indian team. I think Pujara got a little bit stuck for some periods of his career. He has more shots than he sometimes shows. India’s solidity in Test cricket relies on Pujara batting for a long period of time.

“If he can do that, he’ll set up a good platform for Kohli and some of the other exciting players. Kohli and Sharma need to return to form as soon as possible. It would be great for world cricket if Kohli starts scoring big hundreds again,” Nick Compton concluded.