'Not something I will focus on' - Root on runs record
Root, 34, moved up to second in the list with his century on day four of the fourth Test against India at Old Trafford on Friday.
He now has 13,409 Test runs - 2,512 adrift of India legend Tendulkar's record.
"Those sort of things should look after themselves," Root told BBC Test Match Special.
"The focus has to be about winning games, setting them up if we're earlier on in the Test match and if we need to chase something down, figuring out how to play that situation well.
"It might sound a little bit boring and methodical, but ultimately that's what I need to do to help England win and that's why we play the game."
Root surpassed Ponting with his 120th run in England's first innings. Earlier in the knock he also pipped India great Rahul Dravid and legendary South Africa all-rounder Jacques Kallis.
He reached his current position in his 157th Test. Tendulkar played 200 Tests between 1989 and 2013 and played in Root's debut in India in 2012.
"It's not something that I will focus on," Root said.
"Ricky's someone that I grew up admiring, watching, trying to emulate, copy in the garden and at my local club - trying to play the pull shot that he's obviously world famous for.
"So even just to be spoken about in the same sentence as those guys, the people that you grew up wanting to emulate and pretending to be is pretty cool."
Across his career, Root is averaging 85.4 runs per match. At that rate, he would need 30 more Tests to pass Tendulkar.
But since the beginning of 2021 he has averaged 93 runs per Test and since the third Test in India last year, 101 runs in 19.
That would mean he would reach Tendulkar's haul in 25 Tests' time, possibly in the summer of 2027 when he would be 36.
Root credited work during the Covid-19 pandemic and conversations with former England captain and TV pundit Nasser Hussain for his improvements.
"I actually spoke to Nass quite a bit," Root told Sky Sports.
"I said, 'can I get some footage?' and just look at modes of dismissal and if there were any trends and seeing the different ways I was getting out at different points in my innings.
"One thing I've done within that period is actually try and look at the game slightly differently.
"For that start of my career, a lot of it was based on my technique: where my hands are, where my head is, am I lined up, is my trigger right?
"Whereas in this second phase of things, it's been more about managing risk and thinking how can I eliminate as many modes of dismissal as possible with the highest output?"
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