ENG vs IND 2025: Joe Root recalls 'bizarre' moment involving Sachin Tendulkar

ENG vs IND 2025: Joe Root recalls 'bizarre' moment involving Sachin Tendulkar (Source: Sony Sports and X)

Joe Root recently brought back an interesting incident involving Sachin Tendulkar from England's 2012 tour of India. The former English skipper was left perplexed after witnessing the Ahmedabad crowd's reaction on the dismissal of Cheteshwar Pujara after the batter had got dismissed after registering a double-ton. Root revealed that the cheers for Tendulkar while entering the ground made him realise and understand his legacy.

"To go to India and you watch [Cheteshwar] Pujara, off the camera, unfortunately, he got 200 [206] in the first game, the second game he gets out and the whole crowd cheers because Sachin's coming into bat. It was bizarre to witness. But it just shows the greatness of the man and the legend that he is. He's one of the greats the game has seen. All the things he managed to achieve with the pressures he had to shoulder and burden was incredible," shared Root while speaking to Sony Network.

Root, who recently climbed past Ricky Ponting in the run-scoring chart in Tests, now standing only second to Tendulkar, also spoke on how he felt playing against the maestro.

"That's someone again, you watched play as a young kid and you wanted to copy and emulate. And then to get the opportunity to play against him as well, I mean, he made his Test debut before I was born and you find yourself playing in a Test match against him, it was an incredible experience," added Root.

Speaking of Root's recent performance, his 150 (248) propelled England to 669 in the first innings of Manchester Test. His 144 and 142-run stands with Ollie Pope (71 off 128) and Ben Stokes (141 off 198) proved vital for his team to claim a hefty lead.