Will Joe Root overtake Sachin Tendulkar’s Test runs tally?

Joe Root couldn’t take England to victory in a mammoth fourth-innings chase in the fifth Test vs India, but he did hit a magnificent century, which pushed his Test runs tally higher up. It stands at 13,543 runs now in 158 Test matches. The only man ahead of him is Sachin Tendulkar. The magic number after the India-England series is 2378 – that’s how many runs Root trail’s Tendulkar’s 15921 tally by.

So can Root overtake Tendulkar’s tally? If yes, when should we expect him to do it?

Root’s recent form

He ended the five Tests against India with 537 runs from nine innings, averaging 67.1. He was England’s highest run-getter, and only Shubman Gill’s extraordinary run-glut prevented Root from topping the charts. This series came on the back of some stellar years for Root.

Since England’s away series against Sri Lanka at the start of 2021, Root has been tearing it up across the world. He was good until that point too – after all, he was spoken of alongside Virat Kohli, Steve Smith and Kane Williamson as the ‘Fab Four’ – but since 2021, he has hit a different level.

As can be seen, Root’s curve has gone sharply upwards from 2021. The key difference is in how well he has been converting his starts into big scores. He reaches 50 at almost the same rate (in fact, it’s slightly lower 2021 onwards), but he’s scoring hundreds twice as often as he used to.

In real terms, he’s gone from scoring 80 runs per match to scoring 94 runs per match.

Obviously, what Root is doing right now is at his peak. He will turn 35 in December though, and to beat Tendulkar’s mark, he’ll have to play for a few more years still.

What the future looks like for Root

What Root has in his favour is that England play more Test cricket than anyone else. So he’ll get enough opportunity to go past Tendulkar.

This is what England’s Test schedule is according to the FTP, as it stands:

5 Ashes Tests, in starting November 2025

3 Tests v New Zealand at home, starting June 2026

3 Tests v Pakistan at home, starting August 2026

3 Tests v South Africa away, starting December 2026

2 Tests v Bangladesh away, starting February 2027

That’s already 16 Tests in a year and a half. At his current rate, Root is scoring 94 runs per game. His past rate was 80 runs per game. Taking a conservative estimate of 65 runs per game for the rest of his career, to cover for decline and loss of form, Root should score at least more than 1000 runs within this period.

Remember, he doesn’t miss Test matches for England and has had no major injury scares. At the end of this FTP cycle then, Root might be within 1000 to 1500 runs away from Tendulkar. He’ll also be 37 years old by then.

Tendulkar, of course, played till he was 40. There is no reason Root shouldn’t be able to do the same. He doesn’t have a heavy T20 workload, and can always cut down on ODIs, especially after the 2027 World Cup.

How many Tests will Root need to play to overtake Tendulkar? By a generously conservative estimate, he might need 35 to 40 Tests. If he continues scoring at his current rate, he might do it in 25 Tests too. Taking a safe mid-point between them puts the figure at around 30 Tests. Which, give or take a few, is three years.

Will Root play on for another three years? There is no reason why he shouldn’t. Unless motivation becomes a problem or he his form falls off a cliff all of a sudden.

Will Root be ‘better’ than Tendulkar if he goes past his tally?

That is a million-dollar question, which has no answer. Or rather, it has every answer imaginable, because it is completely subjective. You can cut and parse numbers in very refined ways with modern analytics. But it might ultimately come down to intangibles for every individual. Root might never be Tendulkar’s equal overall, because their ODI records have a huge gulf, but he will definitely be spoken of in the same breath as Tendulkar in Test cricket. And that is mind-boggling in itself, because when Tendulkar set his mark, it was thought to be impossible for anyone to reach it.