'Has Every Chance' - Ricky Ponting Believes Joe Root Can Surpass Sachin Tendulkar's Test Runs Tally

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes England star batter Joe Root has "every chance" to go past India great Sachin Tendulkar's record tally for most runs in Test cricket history.

Root recently went past 12000 Test runs to become the seventh highest run-scorer of all time, surpassing West Indies legend Brian Lara in the list, and the 33-year-old has second-placed Ponting and Tendulkar's overall record within sight.

The England batter is 1351 runs shy of Ponting (13378) and 3894 runs adrift of Tendulkar (15921) heading into his side's ICC World Test Championship series against Sri Lanka. Before that, Root will need to get past four other batters.

Most Runs in Test Cricket

Sachin Tendulkar (India) - 15921 runs
Ricky Ponting (Australia) - 13378 runs
Jacques Kallis (South Africa) - 13289 runs
Rahul Dravid (India) - 13288 runs
Alastair Cook (England) - 12472 runs
Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) - 12400 runs
Joe Root (England) - 12027 runs

While he needs to get past six more players to reach the top, Ponting said Root can break the record if he continues with his form when discussing England star's batting heroics on the most recent edition of The ICC Review.

"He could potentially do that. He is 33 years of age...(more than) 3000 runs behind. It depends how many Test matches they play" Ponting told host Sanjana Ganesan on The ICC Review when asked if Root could overtake Tendulkar's massive tally of runs in Test cricket.

"But if they're playing 10 to 14 Test matches a year and if you're scoring 800 to 1000 runs a year, then that sort of says he's only three or four years off getting there. So that'll take him to 37. If his hunger's still there, then there's every chance that he could do it."

Although the runs tally may be within reach, Root is still way off the mark to Tendulkar's record of Test centuries. The Indian icon has 51 Test hundreds to his name, while Root scored his 32nd Test century against the West Indies last month in Nottingham.

Root is joint 11th in the list for most Test centuries. While he still needs at least 19 more centuries to break that record, Ponting was full of praise for Root's ability to convert his good starts into big scores in recent times.

"He is someone that in the last couple of years has got better and better," Ponting added. "There's always talk around batters reaching their prime in their early 30s and he's certainly done that.

"It's been his conversion rates being the big thing. Four or five years ago, he was making a lot of 50s and struggling to go on and make hundreds and he's gone the other way recently. Almost every time he gets to 50 now, he goes on and makes a big hundred. So that's been the real turnaround for him."