Ricky Ponting believes Joe Root is fulfilling his 'full potential'

Former Australia skipper and batting great Ricky Ponting said that England batter Joe Root who was recently crowned as the world number one batter in ICC Test Player Rankings is fulfilling his full potential with his run over two years which has seen him smash a total of 13 Test centuriesPonting said Englands talismanic batting hero was solidifying his status as one of the games greatsIn the first Ashes Test against Australia at Edgbaston Root produced a spectacular 118 and a quickfire 46While Roots runs were insufficient to prevent England from losing by two wickets they were enough to propel him to the top of the new ICC Test Batting RankingsI do not think he has been underrated because I do not think he has actually probably fulfilled his full potential until the last two years Ponting said of Root on the latest ICC Review showHe is never scored a hundred in Australia but his last two years I think he has made eight or nine hundreds which has elevated him from being a very very good player to one of the great playersAlso Read Ricky Ponting on David Warner I think he will make some runsI think now people are starting to understand just how good Joe Root is concluded PontingRoot has amassed 3345 Test runs in 34 appearances since the start of 2021 averaging 5868 and scoring 13 of his 30 career Test hundredsThe England hitter has been a formidable force at home but has also performed admirably on foreign trips scoring plenty in India New Zealand Sri Lanka and the West IndiesHe was also the leading scorer in the last ICC World Test Championship cycle and hes off to a similar start in the 202325 cycleSince relinquishing the England captaincy to Ben Stokes Root has shown a more aggressive side to his Test game embracing the Bazball credoI mean the innings he played at Edgbaston was a sensational knock full of class Ponting saidHe has added some shots to his repertoire which I did not think he would be able to do Reverse sweeping Pat Cummins first ball of a day in a Test match at the start of day four was something I did not think I would see he addedRoot who is still only 32 years old is one of only 11 players to have achieved 11000 Test runs and is only six runs behind the top ten alltime run scorers in Test historyAnd he still has time in his career to get higher on that listNow that he is no longer captain Ponting who is second on the alltime list feels Roots career will cement his place as one of the alltime greatsHe has in total control of his game now He has made over 11000 runs there are not many players in the history of the game that have done that he addedSo by the time he is finished I am sure he will be recognised as one of the greats he addedAfter his performance at Edgbaston Root climbed to the top of the ICC Batting Rankings with New Zealander Kane Williamson in second four rating points backFour other Australian players from the Ashes series are ranked in the top seven Marnus Labuschagne Travis Head Steve Smith and Usman KhawajaThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever