Legendary Sir Vivian Richards has put his weight behind Joe Root to break Sachin Tendulkar’s tally of Test runs. Tendulkar amassed 15921 runs in his Test career of 200 matches whereas Root is hot on the heels of the Master Blaster’s record with 14208 runs in 307 Test innings.

Thus, the England captain is 1714 runs away from leapfrogging Sachin’s record in the red-ball version. Richards also took a dig at former England opener Geoffrey Boycott, saying that the best batter to come out of Yorkshire will be Joe Root and not the former.

“Well, if he’s captain, why not? He is captain at present, so he is in a good place for that. Nothing is wrong with him trying to achieve that. It would be a milestone for him and would certainly send a message to Sir Geoffrey Boycott that the best batter to come out of Yorkshire is not Sir Geoff. The baton would have been passed on to Joe Root,” Viv Richards said on The Test Match Special.

Meanwhile, Joe Root has struggled with LBW dismissals in the recent past. On Wednesday, he was plumbed in front of the wickets by debutant Razaullah after managing only eight runs. Root is confident of solving his LBW woes in the upcoming matches.

“I’ve played this game a long time and I’ve always found ways of solving those problems and working it through. I don’t see this as being any different. There’s a reason why I’ve got 14,000 runs and a reason why I’ve played the best part of 15 years at this level,” Root said in an interaction with BBC.

“Of course it’s frustrating that there’s sort of a trend. There are probably four umpires’ calls within that, which could have gone the other way, and the ball is probably deviating more than it ever has.You try and be realistic and understand where everything’s at, but also be aware of what you need to do to keep improving and keep getting better. I’m pretty sure I’ll get through the other side. I’m not too concerned about that,” Root added.

England ended the opening day’s play at 156-4 after Pakistan was skittled out for 133.