‘It is not something that I will focus on’ - Joe Root on going past Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most runs

‌Joe Root was living a dream during the third day of the fourth Test against India at Old Trafford in Manchester. The veteran batter not only brought up his 38th Test hundred but also went past Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, and Ricky Ponting, in one go, in the list of top run-getters in Test cricket.

Starting his innings at fifth in the list, Root scored 150 runs to be placed second behind Sachin Tendulkar while also taking England to a position of strength against the visitors. Evidently, Root was thrilled to go past those great names as he opened up on his feelings after the day’s play.

"When you look at the names there on that list, they are all people that, as a kid growing up, that's who I would try to be in the garden, on the street, on the driveway, at my local club," Root told Sky Sports. “One day I'd try to be Ricky Ponting, the next I'd try to be Kumar Sangakkara or Brian Lara.

"I'd pretend that I was in different parts of the world, scoring Test-match hundreds. Even just to be mentioned in the same sentence as these guys is a bit of a pinch-yourself moment. It is pretty cool, yeah."

With that knock, Root now has a tally of 13409 runs in 157 matches at an impressive average of 51.17, with only 2512 runs separating him and Tendulkar. But the former England captain was quick to dismiss the numbers game, explaining that his focus was on winning matches for his country.

"It's not something that I will focus on," he told the BBC. "Those sorts of things should look after themselves. The focus has to be on winning games.

"He made his Test debut before I was born. To be playing on the same ground as him and to get the chance to play against him was incredibly cool. [He was] someone you grew up watching, admiring, trying to learn from… To get to play in a series where he was still playing was really quite a memorable experience that I'll never forget."

The crowd at Old Trafford welcomed Root going past Ricky Ponting with a standing ovation, and the batter was forced to acknowledge them as he tried to focus on his innings at the same time.

"I can't avoid it," he quipped. "They [the numbers] are everywhere, aren't they? But you try to put it out of your mind. It is easy to get caught up in this stuff… You're not doing your job if you're concentrating on yourself."

"It's something that I'll look back on at the end of my career rather than right now… It was a really cool day, something I'll try to take in properly and appreciate what I've achieved, but there's so much important cricket still to be played within this series, within this game, and obviously in the next little while, so that's the main focus right now."