Multan: England star batter Joe Root has surpassed Alistair Cook on the third day of the first Test against Pakistan on Wednesday. He shattered the former England skipper’s record of most Test runs as an English batter during the fixture against Pakistan.
The 33-year-old smashed a boundary against Pakistan pacer Aamer Jamal for a four straight down the ground. Root completed 71 runs with the shot and scripted a crucial record. Thus, he became the highest run-scorer for England in Test cricket and became the seventh highest Tes-scorer across the globe.
His teammates and the England supporters cheered as the right-handed batter accomplished his feat. Root took 268 innings and 147 Test matches to overtake the former England captain. Harry Brook also played his part by scoring a half-century in the match.
In the all-time list is at the top of India batting legend Sachin Tendulkar with a tally of 15,921 runs from 200 fixtures. Ricky Ponting (13378) and Jacques Kallis (13289) are at the second and third positions respectively.
Most runs in Test cricket
15921 - Sachin Tendulkar
13378 - Ricky Ponting
13289 - Jacques Kallis
13288 - Rahul Dravid
12473* - Joe Root
12472 - Alastair Cook
12400 - Kumar Sangakkara
Root also became the first batter to score 5000 runs in the history of the World Test Championship (WTC) during the fixture. The right-handed batter needed 27 runs to achieve the milestone. Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne (3904) and Steve Smith (3484).
Pakistan posted a total of 556 in the first innings as the trio of Abdullah Shafique, Shan Masood and Agha Salman scored centuries. Jack Leach picked three wickets for England.
