New Delhi, India

After Joe Root became England's highest run-getter in Tests during the opening session of Day 3 of the Multan Test versus Pakistan on Wednesday (Oct 9), Ben Stokes backed him to break, or come close to Sachin Tendulkar's record for most runs in whites. Tendulkar, who retired from international cricket in 2013, is the leading scorer in Tests with 15,921 runs. The 33-year-old Root already has over 12,500 runs in whites and looks set to break Tendulkar's long-standing record. In the overall tally, Root occupies the fifth place.

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'He is too good a player....'

Stokes was quoted as saying to the ECB, after Root became England's highest Test run-getter, "Look, he is 33. He has played some 100 games in a row. I don't know. He can easily go until he is 37, 38 or even 39. He plays all the Test matches from now until then, I don't see why not. He is too good a player to at least get close to. I personally will be backing him to go past it."

Also read: Pak vs Eng: Joe Root continues merry run, becomes England's highest run-scorer in Test cricket

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'Everything he has done with the bat has always been about the team'

Stokes lauded Root for his selflessness and feels it would take very long for any English player to break his England record. Thus, he further opined, "To score that many runs, you have to think that there has to be a bit of selfishness about the player. But everything that he has done with the bat in his hand, has always been about the team. I remember a couple of years ago, he was getting stick for converting his fifties into hundreds. I just couldn't get my head around it."

The Test captain added, "From my point of view, when I looked at how many hundreds Joe scored and how many games we have won, that's what I look at. The selflessness he has is an incredible attribute for him. He always puts the team first. It's going to take a long, long time for someone to come in and break that record."

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At present, England are in full command in the opening Test versus Pakistan in Multan. In response to the hosts' 556, England have crossed the 350-run mark, for the loss of only three wickets, with Root scoring his 35th Test ton. The visitors look on course to get close to Pakistan's first-innings score. 

Stokes, on the other hand, is not part of the playing XI as he is still recovering from a hamstring injury. In his absence, Ollie Pope is leading the side in Multan.