Joe Root is hot on the heals of Sachin Tendulkar’s record of highest Test run scorer of all time but the England captain said that the Indian great was part of the spectacle when he first went to watch a Test match at his domestic home ground Headingley as a 12-year-old.

Root said that he had gone along with his local cricket club. “India won the toss and batted first, and I watched one wicket all day. It was Rahul Dravid (148) and Sourav Ganguly (128) who got a boatload of runs, and that’s one where Sachin got, I don’t know how much,” Root is quoted as saying by Daily Mail.

“It was a tough toil for the England bowlers, but that was my first experience of coming here with a local cricket club. It was with Rotherham Town, actually. And they took the Under 11s out to watch the game, and it was a great experience,” he added.

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Headingley has rarely been a happy hunting ground for India but on this occassion, they hammered England by an innings and 46 runs. India’s got massive partnerships in their top four, first a second wicket stand of 170 runs between Dravid and Sanjay Bangar, then a 150-run stand between Dravid and Tendulkar and then a 249-run partnership between Tendulkar and Ganguly.

Tendulkar fell seven runs short of a double century, staying out there for 330 runs as India declared on 628/8. Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh took three wickets while pacers Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar got a pair each as England were all out for 273 in their first innings. Their captain Nasser Hussain scored 110 in their second innings but couldn’t stop them from being all out for 309 runs, with Kumble taking four wickets.

Tendulkar retired with 15,921 runs in Test cricket. He has held the record for highest run scorer in the format since October 2008, when he went past Brian Lara in the list. He also has the most centuries in Test cricket at 51. Root is very much on course to breaking both records. The 35-year-old has scored 14,278 runs in 169 Tests and has 41 centuries.