Joe Root has etched his name deeper into cricket history, climbing to third place on the all-time Test run-scorers list during England’s fourth Test against India at Old Trafford on Friday.
Starting the day just 30 runs shy of Rahul Dravid’s 13,288 and 31 behind Jacques Kallis’s 13,289, Root surpassed both legends with a measured offside single off India’s Mohammed Siraj. His achievement came in his 157th Test match, prompting loud cheers and chants of “Roooot” from the Manchester crowd.
England was 261-2 at the time, trailing India’s first-innings total of 358 by 97 runs on day three of play.
Root now has Ricky Ponting’s 13,378 runs in his sights, while India’s Sachin Tendulkar remains comfortably ahead in first place with a staggering 15,921 runs across 200 tests. However, with time on his side at just 34 years old, Root’s climb might not be over yet.
England currently leads the five-match series 2-1, with the final Test scheduled at The Oval next week.
Playing XIs:
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (capt), Jamie Smith (wkt), Liam Dawson, Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (capt), Rishabh Pant (wkt), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Anshul Kamboj, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
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