Legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar reckons that there is no possibility that Joe Root will break Sachin Tendulkar’s record of most Test runs as it is very difficult to break the “insurmountable” record. Indian legend Tendulkar leads the chart with 15921 runs, followed by Ricky Ponting (13378 runs), Jacques Kallis (13,289), and Rahul Dravid (13,288). With Root (10191 runs) recently going past the 10000-run mark, he is the nearest active player to challenge Tendulkar’s record.

During a recent chat with India Today, Sunil Gavaskar said, “That is an insurmountable record because we are talking about another almost 6000 runs, which means you would have to score about 1000 runs or 800 runs over the next 8 years for you to get there. Joe Root has got age on his side (31 years old). He certainly can (break the record) if he can maintain that enthusiasm and go on.”

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He further added, “Alastair Cook retired but he is still playing first-class cricket. Sometimes, if you are playing around the clock, your form can also drop because there is mental tiredness that comes in. Root is scoring 150+ scores but it can take a toll on him, mentally and physically.”

Elaborating his point of view further, Sunil Gavaskar further said that “anything is possible” and cited the examples of New Zealand legend Richard Hadlee (431 Test wickets) and West Indies great Courtney Walsh’s (519 Test wickets) records.

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The batting legend explained, “Anything is possible in the game. We first thought Richard Hadlee’s 431 wouldn’t break, but that was overtaken. Then we thought of Courtney Walsh’s 519… So, I mean look where we are going. (It is) not impossible, but very very difficult.”

Currently, Joe Root is plying his trade for England in the second Test against New Zealand with the visitors having a lead of ahead of Day 5 with 3 wickets in hand.