Following Michael Vaughan’s remarks regarding Joe Root breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record for Test runs, former Indian batter Sunil Gavaskar recently come forth and chastised the latter. Notably, despite Root gaining ground on Tendulkar, he has amassed 15,921 runs in 200 Test matches.
After amassing 12,402 runs in 146 Test matches, the standout batsman for England needs 3,519 runs to tie the historic record. Michael Vaughan expressed recently that he thought it would be beneficial for cricket if Root was ranked first and that it would only be a matter of time until he did.
This did not sit well with Sunil Gavaskar, who took to the microphone to question Vaughan about his remarks and ask him what was wrong with Tendulkar being ranked first.
“I recently heard someone claim that if Joe Root were to surpass Sachin Tendulkar’s record for the most runs and centuries in Test match cricket, it would be beneficial for the sport. Please explain to us the current state of Test cricket with Tendulkar holding the record and how things will improve if (and this is a big if) another Englishman takes over. What aspect of it will be improved? Please educate us,” urged Gavaskar in a Sportstar essay.
He continued by saying that the BCCI would do everything within its power to ensure that an Indian batter kept the record for the most Test runs. Given that the foreign media only speaks that language, he believed that the tendency of criticising the Indian squad ought to be met with an equal amount of violence.
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“We ought to question foreign media personalities and pundits who make remarks about the lack of enthusiasm from the Indian public when their country is struggling to understand why its fans aren’t present to show support for the team. Since that’s the only language they can comprehend, we must respond to this business of disparaging India with aggressiveness, Gavaskar continued.