Joe Root earned the distinction of being England’s top run-scorer in Test cricket as he surpassed the tally of Alastair Cook when he reached 71 with a straight drive for four on the third morning of the first Test against Pakistan. He started this tour 70 runs behind Cook’s career aggregate of 12,472 runs, and overtook him by driving Aamer Jamal down the ground.
Root celebrated the landmark with a wave of his hand and bat towards England’s players and coaching staff, who were up on their feet to applaud him in the dressing-room balcony at the Multan International Cricket Stadium.
The Lord’s Test last month was epoch-making for Root as he went past Alastair Cook’s record of 33 Test hundreds to become England’s highest ton-getter in the format. In the process, he entered the top-10 list for most Test centuries, equalling Sunil Gavaskar, Brian Lara, Mahela Jayawardene and Younis Khan to take the joint sixth spot, only behind Sachin Tendulkar (51), Jacques Kallis (45), Ricky Ponting (41), Kumar Sangakkara (38) and Rahul Dravid (36).