James Anderson Believes Joe Root Will Surpass Alastair Cook's Record Of Most Test Runs For England  

England pacer James Anderson believes that Joe Root will definitely surpass Alastair Cook’s record of most Test runs for England. His words arrive after the England skipper Joe Root smashed a 180-run knock in the 1st innings of the ongoing Test match against India at Lord’s. The right-handed batsman scored unbeaten 180 runs and remained unbeaten on the crease to bag a 27-run lead for England after the end of 1st innings.

Joe Root also smashed 64 and 109 in the 1st Test match against India, which also earned him the player of the match award. He recently surpassed former England skipper Graham Gooch’s tally of 8,900 Test runs.

With 9067 Test runs in 196 innings in his kitty, he is the 2nd highest run-getter for England. Alastair Cook is the highest run-getter for England in Tests with 12472 runs in 291 Test innings.

James Anderson Believes Joe Root Can Break Alastair Cook’s Record

James Anderson expressed words of praise for Joe Root for his consistent batting show in Tests and believes that his skipper can break the record of Alastair Cook.

“Absolutely (surpass Cook). Joe has been amazing through his career. With everything that we’ve been through with the pandemic and the pressures on this team, to be able to captain the side and perform the way he has been is nothing short of superhuman,” the England pacer said. 

James Anderson himself executed a dashing bowling show in the ongoing Test match against India at Lord’s, picking 5 wickets for 62 runs in the 1^st innings. It was the 7^th time that the 39-year-old pacer picked a five-wicket haul in Tests at Lord’s and scripted his name at Lord’s honours board once again.

Speaking about his performance and Indian batting in the ongoing Test encounter, Anderson said that he hopes it is not his last time on the Lord’s honours board.

“The last few times I’ve been here you do think ‘is this the last time I’m going to play here?’ Hopefully, it’s not my last time here or my last time on the honours board.

“I think it (India’s total) was testament to how they batted, especially KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma. They put you under pressure. They left well, defended well. I think it was a case of a little bit of luck as well,” Anderson further said.

In the match, England has managed a 27-run lead after the end of 1^st innings. Dismissing all Indian batsmen for 364 in the 1^st innings, England put up 391-10 on the scoreboard. Now the result of the match will totally depend on the performances of both the teams in the 2^nd innings. India vs England 1^st Test ended in a draw.