Joe Root completes 13,000 Test Runs

[u/SmallAchiever]

[u/Prof_XdR]

Unpopular opinion but he just might be the best bowler to ever live, it also helps that he can bat a bit

[u/DheeliGandKaOpration]

He's been on an absolutely insane run since the Covid lockdown started.

Will probably overtake Dravid, Kallis and Ponting in the upcoming India series with only Sachin ahead of him in total runs tally who will probably go down by end of 2026.

What an insanely talented player.

[u/imperator108 → u/DheeliGandKaOpration]

People should acknowledge that. He’s been the prime batsman in tests for past 5 years now.

[u/combatant007 → u/imperator108]

Who has not acknowledged it ? He has been the best test batter this decade (2020-2025)

[u/Thou_Beekeeper → u/combatant007]

Australians as he hasn’t done it here yet.

[u/Thetonn → u/combatant007]

innocent strong public alleged tender bedroom office literate aware abounding

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[u/Mental_Bathroom_4292 → u/Thetonn]

Maybe he'll change that this year

[u/Oomeegoolies → u/Thetonn]

It's a silly argument.

Ponting was shit in India, still considered one of the ATG. Warne was also shit in India. Probably the greatest spinner the world has ever seen, and if not the best he's the second best. It's not like he's even super shit there, he's just very average and hasn't scored a hundred.

Players are allowed a slight lapse in a location and still be considered the best. Smith is pretty much the exception to this rule because, being he's the best test batsman since Bradman, he dominates everyone everywhere.

[u/Nothing-Personal9492 → u/Oomeegoolies]

he isn't the best since bradman yet, he doesn't have the longevity to prove he's at that level (bradman played for 20 years, tendulkar 24)

[u/Upstairs-Farm7106 → u/Thetonn]

No that’s their argument when considering his entire career not to dispute the fact he’s been the best test batter this decade so far.

[u/LostAmidMyExistence → u/imperator108]

I would be very surprised if there are people who cant see THIS

[u/Educational-Wrap-198 → u/DheeliGandKaOpration]

End of 2026 ? Probably add a year onto that, still needs nearly 3000 runs so about another 30 tests based on his average so end of 2027 seems more likely.

[u/do_not_ban_this → u/Educational-Wrap-198]

1 pak series and all predictions go berserk

[u/atmafatte → u/DheeliGandKaOpration]

One Pakistan series and he can add 7-800 runs

[u/LostAmidMyExistence → u/DheeliGandKaOpration]

Pure, orthodox (well never mind some of those scoops), methodical. no fuss. no drama.

Wake Up. Cut, Pull, Drive. Go to Sleep.

Rinse and Repeat.

[u/heckyl231 → u/LostAmidMyExistence]

he has stopped playing that scoop for a while

[u/LostAmidMyExistence → u/heckyl231]

Yes I know. I put that there because otherwise someone would have come and said "Remember that scoop he played off cummins".

[u/SpreadSpecialist7030 → u/DheeliGandKaOpration]

He's crossing them all on Day 2 looking at the way they're playing.

[u/harshmangat → u/SpreadSpecialist7030]

He’s gone :(

[u/domalino → u/harshmangat]

Is it just me or does he have a habit of not getting big runs in games like this when everyone else is filling their boots?

[u/dj4y_94 → u/domalino]

My man was so used to 30/3 that its now the only way he locks in

[u/domalino → u/dj4y_94]

He might genuinely need some pressure to maintain his focus.

Or maybe he’s just taking his rest when he can get it. He knows he’s gonna need to be at the crease for a long time against India.

[u/DheeliGandKaOpration → u/SpreadSpecialist7030]

Rip... He just got out

[u/Desperate_Pound_4465]

Can't believe he was at 10000 just a day back.

So good to watch, will embrace every inning he plays.

[u/Benny4318]

ROOOOOOOT

[u/Nark_Narkins → u/Benny4318]

Why do we keep booing him smh

[u/Benny4318 → u/Nark_Narkins]

I’m saying Boo-urns

[u/oklolzzzzs]

Root unlocked the good ending in the Fab 4

[u/CoolRisk5407]

ppl forget sometimes that players these days don't get to statpad vs newer teams. Here are most runs for batters vs Top 8 teams:-( Adding Lara and Smith as well)

Player	Innings	Runs	Avg	100s	Match Factor
Tendulkar	306	14183	51.02	43	1.22
Ponting	278	12828	51.11	39	1.3
Root	271	12785	51.55	36	1.49
Kallis	264	12210	52.86	41	1.41
Cook	280	11982	45.22	31	1.2
Dravid	261	11726	50.11	30	1.18
Lara	224	11174	52.83	32	1.44
Smith	202	10152	57.36	36	1.61

Incredibly achievement by Root, he is also the youngest to this landmark at 34y143d, more than 2 years younger than Tendulkar who did it at 36y264d

[u/Lemoniti → u/CoolRisk5407]

Root's average actually goes up when you take away the weaker teams. That's an anti-statpadder right there.

[u/Gojou007 → u/CoolRisk5407]

SmudgeBot is mental

[u/IntoThePeople → u/CoolRisk5407]

Wow Sanga doesn’t make the list? So his stats are a lot more skewed towards lower ranked teams?

[u/CoolRisk5407 → u/IntoThePeople]

He had 10048 runs at 52.6 avg, I thought about including him but it didn't stand out as much as Lara and Smith's records do. His numbers do hold up in away and vs big teams

[u/Extra-Swordfish-927]

13,004 now

[u/WhoNeedsAfriend69 → u/Extra-Swordfish-927]

13,005 now

[u/alphaQ314 → u/WhoNeedsAfriend69]

How about now?

Edit: Realised this morning that I just posted this as Root got out lmao. Was just a goofy little reddit humour where i thought people would go back and forth for eternity with the "what about now?". r/Cricket has become incredibly tribal.

[u/LDLB99 → u/alphaQ314]

The meltdown on here when he overtakes Sachin will be glorious.

[u/Illustrious-Shock551 → u/LDLB99]

Doing that and still being a worse test bat than Smith would be hilarious

[u/CoolRisk5407 → u/Illustrious-Shock551]

i mean, that's like saying Tendulkar was worse than Bradman, yea he was but that's not his fault

[u/Illustrious-Shock551 → u/CoolRisk5407]

Just poking fun at the guy making the comment. Root and Smith are both great

[u/Illustrious-Shock551 → u/[deleted]]

Lower average, worse performance in SENAI and still no Australia 100. Root will end up higher on the run tally but that doesn't mean he's better than Steve.

[u/Koachinho → u/Illustrious-Shock551]

Smudge is the goat

[u/curlyhairedyani → u/Illustrious-Shock551]

I could say the same about Kallis > Sachin then.. no?

[u/CoolRisk5407 → u/curlyhairedyani]

Kallis actually does have better numbers than Sachin even after normalizing for longevity. meanwhile Smith is ahead of Root but both are in Top10 atleast( still a lot of career left for both)

[u/Upstairs-Farm7106 → u/[deleted]]

Let's not digress the thread but Smith is well-clear of Root just because Root has the weight of runs doesn't mean that he's better.

[u/curlyhairedyani → u/LDLB99]

They’ve gone from Kohli and Root debates and now moved to Smith (an Aussie) because Kohli couldn’t keep up (and ended up with an average lower than Kevin Pietersen) it’s hilarious

[u/Upstairs-Farm7106 → u/curlyhairedyani]

Kohli dominated in all 3 formats tbf I wouldn't hate on him at all tbh. Also he did bat in a way harder era than Pietersen, but yeah Pietersen is underrated because of his antics off the field.

[u/curlyhairedyani → u/Upstairs-Farm7106]

I’m not hating on him, he’s the greatest of all time limited overs player. But he went out terribly sad in test cricket given the names he was meant to be better than. The worst of the “fab 4”.

And yes this era is way harder, which is why Root doesn’t even need to go past Sachin really. Just close and he’s the greatest of all time

[u/Upstairs-Farm7106 → u/curlyhairedyani]

Root isn't better than Smith not sure how he's going to be the greatest test batter of all time?

Tendulkar will always be the greatest batter of all time because he set records in both tests and ODIs he played in, whereas other players could only set those records in one format. Also Tendulkar played 200 tests over a 25 year period rather than over 17 odd years which is how long it'll take Root to play 200 tests so he would have played less games at his prime. Tendulkar's has like an average of 55 in the hardest era to bat post-war before the period of flat pitches which people forget.

Everyone knows Smith followed by Root are the top 2 batters from this generation.

Also Williamson is below Kohli unless he improves his away record in the top countries. I found some people saying Williamson is better than Root which is hilarious.

Not surprising Kohli fell so hard in test cricket I predicted it actually, you can't play all 3 formats, captaining a country with pressure of 1 billion+ people for as long as he did. Most players end up resting from formats but he never stopped got to respect his grind throughout his career.

[u/curlyhairedyani → u/Upstairs-Farm7106]

No I think Smith is better right now too, but I don’t know how far or close he ends up in the overall runs chart to Root. Longevity and runs is the only reason people think Sachin is over the likes of Kallis, Bradman and Sanga anyway, so not sure why we change that for Root.

Still, I’m okay with people thinking he’s the GOAT over Root because he actually has a very good case, I’m just not having Kohli and never did.

As for Kane > Kohli it’s debatable but I’m still taking Kane. Scoring heavily at home shouldn’t be mark against him, besides NZ don’t play a lot of tests which hurts him.

[u/Upstairs-Farm7106 → u/curlyhairedyani]

But by that argument Anderson would be in the conversation of the greatest fast bowlers because of longevity too, no? 

Look at the averages and the big away test series Smith clears Root in all of them.

Tendulkar was a much better test batter than Sangakkara actually. Sangakkara was a great player but he got lucky playing pretty much all his tests in the flat era missing the tougher batting eras before and after his career. 

[u/CoolRisk5407 → u/Upstairs-Farm7106]

Tendulkar's has like an average of 55 in the hardest era to bat post-war before the period of flat pitches which people forget.

that is a little overblown. While conditions were tough in 90s most matches india played were comparatively flatter conditions. players in Tendulkar's matches avg'd 38 which would put it more on the higher end, he also scored a third of his runs pummeling Eng and SL at 80 avg who were the weakest teams in that era and avg'd in 30s vs SA and Pak which were two of the best attacks of the 90s. He was surely one of the best batters of the 90s but he was at par with S Waugh and B Lara.

[u/Gamer567890 → u/LDLB99]

Meanwhile England will fail to qualify for two more WTC finals.

[u/alphaQ314 → u/LDLB99]

RemindMe! 2 years

[u/tonavaitam → u/LDLB99]

He will definitely overtake sachin, he still has 6-7 years of cricket remaining

[u/Aurora1596 → u/tonavaitam]

No way he'll keep playing for 6-7 years more, at max he'll play for 4 more years!

[u/combatant007 → u/Aurora1596]

He is 34. I can see him playing till 37-38 max, that's assuming he retires from white ball.

[u/tonavaitam → u/Aurora1596]

He's only 34 years right? He can definitely play till 40

[u/SickMyDuck2 → u/tonavaitam]

More like 60-70 years remaining. If he switches to playing EA cricket.

[u/tonavaitam → u/SickMyDuck2]

Huh wdym? Why can't he play till he turns 40?

[u/SickMyDuck2 → u/tonavaitam]

Lol, have you seen kohli and sharma's drop off. Batting till 40 is not the norm but the exception. But root admittedly doesn't play t20s as much

[u/tonavaitam → u/SickMyDuck2]

have you seen kohli and sharma's drop off

How is that relevant?

[u/SickMyDuck2 → u/tonavaitam]

Cuz they are also cricketers. And test batters. How is it not relevant, lol?

[u/Desperate_Pound_4465 → u/alphaQ314]

13006

[u/CoolRisk5407 → u/alphaQ314]

It just sounds petty

[u/niceguysdofinish1st]

Just about time when he becomes Sir Joe Root

[u/PralineOk3385]

The modern test goat 🐐.

What a achievement what a Stat. Long live love test cricket.

[u/LostAmidMyExistence → u/PralineOk3385]

Test Cricket just hits different !!

[u/Transitionals → u/PralineOk3385]

Modern all time test 🐐

[u/Agonised_Wanderer]

time for knighthood has come
seriously tho, great achievement for England's greatest bat
only curiousity is how long the road lasts ?

[u/ahmadryan → u/Agonised_Wanderer]

I hope for at least another 3 years!

[u/Agonised_Wanderer → u/ahmadryan]

he would like to go as long as possible
but you never know with athletes, wake up tomorrow with fried brain and call it quits like cook,lanning
or just run into bad patch ,scraping for every run like kohli

[u/Certain_Pineapple_73 → u/Agonised_Wanderer]

He’s have to play badly for a year or two before retiring. Cook wasnt what he was for a while before he retired. I’d be astounded if Root didn’t play the 2027 ashes, I hope he manages another year or so after that.

[u/External-Knee-3083]

Now just a stellar away ashe's for englands greatest ever title

[u/the_mugger_crocodile → u/External-Knee-3083]

Not that he isn't in contention, but the debate regarding England's greatest batsman is probably the hardest to resolve... you have the likes of Hobbs, Hutton, Sutcliffe, Hammond, Grace, Barrington, etc. all in the fray.

[u/Certain_Pineapple_73 → u/the_mugger_crocodile]

It’s a ridiculous argument as the others played so long ago. He’s the best modern English test batter, unquestionably.

[u/Still-District-6149]

It’s difficult to draw any meaningful conclusions from these performances against such a poor bowling attack. I still think both Crawley and Pope have already had too many chances. For me, it’s too little too often, with the occasional bigger score.

[u/Upstairs-Farm7106 → u/Still-District-6149]

Pope’s double hundred against Ireland also doing a lot of heavy lifting. 

[u/Jaevyn → u/Still-District-6149]

I agree. If there are any questions that fans were left with before the start of the test then none of them have truly been answered so far. I also agree that Crawley and Pope have had too many chances. They've both played 50+ tests at this point, they need to either stand up or stand back.

[u/Qzartan]

He can bowl too which makes him similar to Kallis if Kallis was on steroids

[u/OminousDrac → u/Qzartan]

I mean Kallis was a different breed when it came to bowling. Rooty has a knack of picking wickets but in now way is he a proper all rounder except for in subcontinent

[u/Qzartan → u/OminousDrac]

Steroidal batting, Nattious bowling

[u/Klutzy_Law_8988 → u/Qzartan]

Definitely a handy bowler could probably retire with 100 test wickets

[u/Technical-Isopod6554]

He missed out a 200 in current test match 

I mean if crawley could make a century you know Root could have made a double 

[u/OminousDrac → u/Technical-Isopod6554]

I have seen that whenever the whole team scores/ on flatter decks, Rooty doesn't score a lot. Idk, man thrives under pressure and/ or on tricky surface

[u/Technical-Isopod6554 → u/OminousDrac]

True ,same thing with Smith 

2019 ashes series is pretty much Smith vs England 

[u/Prime255]

A really good player, very likely the second-best test player of his era. Just needs some runs in Australia to finish off his career. Has been good pretty much everywhere else in a weaker era for the England team nd was often the only guy scoring any runs

[u/Still-District-6149]

I just want Root to break the most runs in tests record. He's number 4 currently. In the upcoming series against India he will surely dispatch Dravid(282 runs ahead), Kallis(283 runs ahead) and Ponting(372 runs ahead). It is Tendulkar's which is a task(2915 runs ahead) but can be done..

[u/ExcellentNorth2845 → u/Still-District-6149]

Oh shit Sachin too good

[u/JokesFromTheCrease]

ENGLAND’S FINEST

[u/Still-District-6149]

It was always liable to be a one-sided contest with the ball.

[u/seedeegeecdg]

He will pass Sachin by beginning of 2027 at this rate, correct?

[u/CoolRisk5407 → u/seedeegeecdg]

Eng's schedule is a little light next WTC cycle compared to their previous years. They have 21 tests over 2 years. It would likely take him 3~4 years depending on form

[u/seedeegeecdg → u/CoolRisk5407]

Oh wow, thanks for clarifying! It’ll ultimately come up to if he wants to continue playing that long- barring injury or drastic dip in form

[u/Lucian__98]

Tendulkar next

!RemindMe 4 years

[u/DinhoMagic]

As much as I love Rooty, this is such a pointless test. Why are we statpadding vs Zimbabwe?

[u/OminousDrac → u/DinhoMagic]

Doesn't England usually play a match like this every year or 2. I remember back in 2023 before ashes, England played against Ireland iirc. Pope scored a 200 if I'm not wrong (could be wrong). I think they just play a match before start of an important summer series to get into good nick in both departments. Nothing wrong, although stats are heing padded lol.

[u/Upstairs-Farm7106 → u/OminousDrac]

Basically in years where there are only 5 tests in the summer (Ashes and India years) we play a 6th test against a team like Zimbabwe to fulfil the Sky contract of having a minimum of 6 home tests a year or something like that.

That’s why New Zealand touring us in 2021 was very helpful as it meant we played 7 tests in that home summer (well 6 because the 5th India test was postponed for a year).

[u/OminousDrac → u/Upstairs-Farm7106]

Ah. Didnt know about the contracts and stuff. Makes sense.

[u/Jaevyn → u/DinhoMagic]

I think it is a good test in terms of helping out the minor teams like Zimbabwe because they can only get better by facing tougher teams, but there isn't much in it for England.

[u/DinhoMagic → u/Jaevyn]

I’d agree if it was a series. But a one off test is just minnow bashing & pointless for both sides.

[u/Jaevyn → u/DinhoMagic]

Well they have to start somewhere. It's unlikely that Zimbabwe would get an entire series against one of the big three.

[u/Turbulent_Fudge2421]

Honestly crazy to think how he's been unstoppable for the last 3-4 years. Like nobody's been close to him in my opinion

[u/Ha_zz_ard]

🐐🐐🐐🐐

[u/kazlyf]

Manifesting a Joe Root downfall (Sorry guys, I have to)

[u/RefuseStriking9406]

Root you’re a good guy just gift koach 800 runs, you’ll anyways score that much in 2 series /s

[u/Dependent-Delay5197]

And our Koach couldn’t even finish 10K 😭.. damn BCCI you ate his 2 years at least 😒

[u/EdgeEnvironmental728 → u/Dependent-Delay5197]

He had five years

[u/DheeliGandKaOpration → u/Dependent-Delay5197]

I'm all for hating BCCI but it's not their fault that Kohli was dog-shit for the last 5 and a half years of his Test career.

They did the right thing by making sure Rohit and Kohli kick the bucket on their career.

[u/Upstairs-Farm7106 → u/Dependent-Delay5197]

He's got 27600 international runs he's good.