Joe Root Test Runs vs Sachin: Gap, Stats and When He Can Pass

As of the third Test against Pakistan at Edgbaston in September 2026, Joe Root has 14,278 Test runs from 169 matches. Sachin Tendulkar finished with 15,921 runs from 200 Tests. That leaves Root 1,643 runs short of the all-time record, with England’s next Test due in Johannesburg on 17 December 2026.

Root is already second on the all-time list. He moved past Ricky Ponting during the Manchester Test against India in July 2025, and since then the only name above him has been Tendulkar. Here is where the chase stands, what the numbers say, and how long it could take.

Joe Root vs Sachin Tendulkar: how big is the gap right now?

The gap is 1,643 runs. That is simple subtraction: 15,921 minus 14,278. All figures in this article are counted up to and including the third England vs Pakistan Test at Edgbaston, where Root finished on 62 not out as England chased 130 to win by eight wickets and complete a 3-0 series sweep.

Before that match, Gulf News reported Root on 14,216 runs and 1,705 behind Tendulkar. His unbeaten 62 in the chase took him to 14,278. England have no Test cricket scheduled between mid-September and the South Africa tour, so this number will not change before December.

Root vs Tendulkar Test stats: side-by-side comparison

The table below uses career Test figures for both players. Root’s numbers are as of the Edgbaston Test in September 2026. Tendulkar’s are final, as he played his last Test in November 2013.

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Two things stand out. First, Root has played 31 fewer Tests and 20 fewer innings than Tendulkar did. Second, Root now has more Test fifties (69) than Tendulkar (68). He broke that record with his unbeaten 62 at Edgbaston, after drawing level with Tendulkar earlier in the series with a 66 in the first Test at Headingley.

Tendulkar still leads clearly on hundreds (51 to 41) and on average (53.78 to 50.45). Root’s 41 hundreds put him level with Ponting, behind only Tendulkar and Jacques Kallis (45).

Runs per Test and per innings: the simple maths

The following figures are plain arithmetic from the numbers above. They are not predictions.

• Root’s runs per Test: 14,278 divided by 169 is about 84.5.
• Root’s runs per innings: 14,278 divided by 309 is about 46.2.
• Tendulkar’s runs per Test: 15,921 divided by 200 is about 79.6.
• Tendulkar’s runs per innings: 15,921 divided by 329 is about 48.4.

So, per match played, Root has scored slightly more than Tendulkar did. Per innings, Tendulkar is ahead. The difference comes partly from how often each player batted twice in a Test and from not-out innings.

When could Joe Root pass Sachin Tendulkar’s 15,921?

Nobody can give a date, because it depends on form, fitness, selection and how many Tests England play. What we can do is apply Root’s own career rate to the gap.

1. At his career rate per Test (about 84.5 runs): 1,643 runs would take roughly 19 to 20 more Tests.
2. At his career rate per innings (about 46.2 runs): 1,643 runs would take roughly 36 more innings.
3. To do it within the next 10 Tests: he would need about 164 runs per Test, nearly double his career rate.

Gulf News counted 10 England Tests scheduled from the South Africa tour through to the 2027 home Ashes. If Root scores at his career rate across those 10 matches, simple multiplication gives about 845 runs, which would still leave him roughly 800 short. On that basis, the record would more likely come into range after the 2027 Ashes rather than before it.

That said, Root has had big runs before. In the 2021 home series against India he scored 737 runs, and in the 2025 series against India he made 537 with three hundreds. One or two series like that would shorten the timeline a lot.

England’s upcoming Test schedule

These are the Tests that will decide how fast Root closes the gap. The South Africa dates are from the ECB; the rest are as reported by Gulf News in September 2026.

Root’s record in South Africa includes one Test hundred, 110 at the Wanderers in January 2016, at the same ground where the coming series starts.

Root’s 2026 so far

Root started 2026 with 160 against Australia in Sydney in January, his 41st Test hundred. That century is still his most recent one. In the English summer he did not add another hundred, but he kept scoring fifties.

• He was named stand-in captain for the second Test of the 2026 home series against New Zealand while Ben Stokes served a suspension.
• After Stokes retired, Root was confirmed as England’s full-time Test captain again on 30 July 2026, his second spell in the job after leading the side from 2017 to 2022.
• Against Pakistan he made 66 in the first Test at Headingley and 62 not out in the third Test at Edgbaston, as England won the series 3-0.

The captaincy matters for the chase. In his first spell as captain, Root scored 14 Test hundreds, including 228 and 186 in Galle in 2021 and 218 in Chennai the same year.

Records Root has already taken from Tendulkar’s era

Root is not just chasing one number. Along the way he has moved past most of the great batters who played with or after Tendulkar.

• Second on the all-time Test runs list: he passed Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting in the same innings at Old Trafford in July 2025.
• Most Test fifties: 69, one more than Tendulkar’s 68, as of September 2026.
• Most Test hundreds against India: 13, ahead of Steve Smith’s 11, according to Wisden.
• Most Test hundreds in one country: 24 in England, per Wisden, ahead of the 23 each that Kallis, Ponting and Mahela Jayawardene made at home.

For more on how Root reached those marks, read RVCJ’s report on Root equalling a Tendulkar record and why experts have backed Root over Virat Kohli to go after the Indian great’s numbers.

What works for and against Root

In his favour

• England play a lot of Test cricket. Root has 169 Tests since his debut in December 2012, about 12 a year on average.
• He has been consistent for a long time, with a career average just above 50 after more than 300 innings.
• He scores heavily at home, and the 2027 Ashes will be played in England.

Working against him

• Root turns 36 on 30 December 2026, during the Centurion Test. Tendulkar played his last Test at 40.
• Captaincy adds workload. Root has not scored a Test hundred since January 2026.
• The next 10 Tests include three in South Africa and six against Australia, two of the tougher assignments for any batter.

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