Ian Bell Calls Joe Root Greatest English Batter: Former England wicketkeeper-batter Ian Bell has said that Joe Root will go down as the greatest English batsman of all time whether he gets to Sachin Tendulkar’s runs record or not.
In the ongoing 2023-25 World Test Championship cycle, Joe has been in white-hot form. In the 16 matches and 29 innings he has played in this cycle, the 33-year-old has scored 1398 runs with an average of 53/76, the most runs scored out of any batter in test cricket in the same time span. He has also scored five centuries in this time.
Having played 146 Test matches in his career, the former England captain has scored 12402 runs in red-ball cricket for his national team at an acreage of 50.62. This currently makes him the sixth-highest run-scorer in the format and the second-highest English batter behind Alastair Cook.
At just 33 years old, many experts and fans believe that the Englishman has a realistic chance of coming close to or even surpassing the great Sachin Tendulkar’s record of scoring the most runs in Test cricket. Sachin, having played 200 Tests in his career, has scored 15921 runs at an average of 53.78.
If Joe Root plays top-level cricket till the age of 39, the age at which Tendulkar retired from international cricket, he will have a solid shot at the long-standing record.
Ian Bell Calls Joe Root Greatest English Batter
However, Ian Bell, who himself has over 7700 runs for England in Tests, believes that even if he doesn’t break the Master Blaster’s record, Root will still be the best English Test batter of all time. In a recent interview with PTI, Bell had this to say:
“He’s played incredibly well in the last 12 months. I don’t think he’s overthinking too much what’s ahead. He’s just sort of living in the moment as we are. To think that Joe could get close is an amazing achievement on his behalf. He’ll go down as England’s greatest batsman. There’s no doubt whether he does get to Sachin or not.”
It should be noted that Root will most certainly become the highest-scoring Test run scorer for England, as he is just 70 runs behind Alastair Cook. Bell continued,
“To think that he can even get close to someone like Sachin, a real great of the game, someone that we’ve all admired growing up, as a hero to not just people and fans in India, but around the world.”
Joe Root has 34 centuries in Test cricket as well. He currently trails Sachin Tendulkar in that department by 17, as the Indian great is at 51. However, this record too is not out of sight, as the English batter has scored three tons in the past six games.
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