ENG vs NZ Live Update: Joe Root’s flawless century was the key to England’s victory against New Zealand in the first Test match, which took place at Lord’s a week ago. This enabled England to claim victory. The former captain continued to bat without being dismissed on 115, and as he was on his way to scoring his 26th century, he hit the impressive milestone of 10,000 runs in tests. Shane Watson is certain that Joe Root will come close to matching Sachin Tendulkar’s record for the most runs scored in a Test career.
Root is just the second Englishman and the 14th player in the history of cricket to reach the 10,000-run milestone, following in the footsteps of Alastair Cook. Watson thinks that the Englishman will most likely end up as the highest run-scorer among the “Fab Four,” and that he will also most likely come close to matching the marks set by Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar. Tendulkar concluded his Test career with 15921 runs, whereas Ricky Ponting departed with 13378 runs to his credit. This is an impressive difference.
ENG vs NZ Live Update: Shane Watson speaks about Joe Root
“When it comes to being able to go as close as he can, he’s as excellent as anybody else. Without a doubt, he still has a significant amount of excellent cricket to play. But I believe that he will go very close to his goal. Simply based on where everyone is at the moment, Joe Root is tied for the youngest spot with Kane Williamson, who is also 31 years old. These two still have a good deal of time ahead of them. My prediction is that Joe Root will come out on top in the end. Regarding the other men, it will be determined by how often they continue to play cricket,” Watson said in an interview with Isa Guha for the ICC Review program.
Seeing the Fab Four at the pinnacle of their abilities is always a unique and unforgettable experience: Shane Watson
The former Australian all-rounder also observed that Kohli and Smith, who each have 8043 and 8010 Test runs, would be towards the top of the list of players with the most runs scored in Test matches. He is also of the opinion that the world of cricket has been really fortunate to have had such high-caliber batsmen in their prime over the last few years.
“Virat Kohli and Steve Smith can still score runs for the next three to four years. They might end up being right up there with the all-time run-scorers, but you never know unless you try. Over the last six to seven years, we have been incredibly lucky to have had those four players competing at the global cricket level. To see someone at the pinnacle of their abilities is always a unique and unforgettable experience,” Watson said.
