On Day 3 of the Manchester Test against India, former Australia captain Ricky Ponting thinks Joe Root is on pace to surpass his Test run total. In the all-time men’s Test run statistics, Root now lags behind Ponting by 108 runs after finishing Day 2 undefeated by 11 runs.
On Day 3 of the fourth Test, Root overtook Jacques Kallis and Rahul Dravid to become the third-highest run scorer in Test cricket.
“It might happen today if he continues in this manner. It’s a fantastic day to bat, and Joe has had an incredible career. How he changed from being unable to live past fifty to being in his hundreds. It appears like you simply mark him down for a hundred, or a huge hundred, once he reaches fifty. Ponting told Sky Sports, “Just looking at some of the numbers, 37 Test match hundreds, 13000 runs, what an amazing career to date.”
Ricky Ponting went on to say that Root still has a lot more to offer and that he thinks the England captain might overtake Sachin Tendulkar as the greatest run scorer in Test cricket history. In the current five-match Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series, England is ahead of India 2-1.
“A substantial amount of work remains to be done. 35? What is he? His enthusiasm for the game doesn’t seem to be waning. Over the years, his zeal for scoring runs has likely increased. Is he able to find Sachin? We’ll see.
Ricky Ponting remarked, “He might as well do that.”
Regarding the game, England was 133 runs behind India at the close of Day 2 at Old Trafford. Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley shared a 166-run partnership for the first wicket, with both players scoring half-centuries. Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sai Sudharsan, and Rishabh Pant all scored half-centuries as India amassed 358 runs in their opening innings. Ben Stokes, the captain of England, got five wickets to limit India’s innings.
India
