During first test against New Zealand at Lord’s, Joe Root became the second English batter after Alastair Cook to cross 10,000 Test runs on by scoring 26th Test ton and leading England to victory. Now, Cook said that Root will certainly go past him as England’s all-time highest run scorer and will score much more as he doesn’t think that the latter will retire at the age he hung up his boots.
A former England captain, Cook is the country’s all-time highest run scorer and, at his peak, many backed him to even gun down Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most runs scored in the history of the game. That didn’t quite happen, with Cook retiring from international cricket at the age of 33 with 12,472 runs to his name while Tendulkar had sored 15,921.
“He is a pleasure to watch, the most complete England batsman I have seen,” said Cook on BBC.
Cook said that while Kevin Pietersen could play incredible innings, Root is the most complete English batter he has seen in all three formats.
“The person who could play the most incredible innings was Kevin Pietersen, but for the most complete batsmen in all three forms, it’s Root. His consistency is incredible,” said Cook.
Root’s appearances in white-ball cricket has dwindled in recent years as he prioritised Test cricket, being captain in the longest format of the game. He was, however, an integral part of the England team that won the 2019 World Cup and has scored 893 runs in 32 T20Is at a strike rate of 126.30 and average of 35.72.
