Former Australia captain Mark Taylor believes Joe Root could overtake Sachin Tendulkar and become the leading run scorer in the history of Test cricket.
Root became just the 14th man to score 10,000 Test runs after notching a brilliant unbeaten 115 to guide England to victory against New Zealand at Lord's.
In total, Root has scored 10,015 Test runs and remains 5,906 behind Tendulkar, who scored 15,921 in a career that spanned 200 Test matches.
At the age of just 31 and without the burden of the captaincy, Taylor believes Root has what it takes to surpass the India legend. Speaking on Sky Sports, he said: "Root has minimum five years left in him, so I think Tendulkar's record is very achievable.
"Root is batting as well as I have ever seen him bat over the last 18 months to two years. He is in the prime of his career, so there is 15,000 runs-plus for him if he stays healthy."
Root is only the second Englishman to have reached 10,000 Test runs after Sir Alastair Cook, who retired from international cricket in 2018 after scoring 12,472 runs. "I just love batting," Root told BBC Test Match Special after the win.
"I want to score as many runs as I can for the group and it's nice to do it at the start of the summer. It is nice to be spoken about in the same breath as England's greatest ever batter Alastair Cook, it is a privilege."
Cook was at Lord's working as a commentator for the BBC and was full of praise for Root, saying: "I was so glad I was here to witness that - an unbelievable knock by an unbelievable player. He is the most complete England batsman in all forms.
"It has all been low-risk batting, it's what makes him one of the greats, he is in control of everything he does. He has looked the part ever since his debut in India in 2012."
