England batter Joe Root surpassed several cricket giants to become the second-highest run-scorer in Test history. Root jumped three places in the all-time list after putting up a century against India in Manchester. In a historic inning, Root broke past the records of Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting to enter the league of cricket’s all-time greats.
Root leapfrogged these records on the second day of India’s 4th Test match against England. India continues to trail 2-1 to England in the five-match Anderson-Tendulkar Test series.
Top 10 highest run scorers in Test cricket history
| POSITION | PLAYER | COUNTRY | MATCHES | RUNS |
| 1 | Sachin Tendulkar | India | 200 | 15,921 |
| 2 | Joe Root | England | 157 | 13,379* |
| 3 | Ricky Ponting | Australia | 168 | 13,378 |
| 4 | Jacques Kallis | South Africa | 166 | 13,289 |
| 5 | Rahul Dravid | India | 164 | 13,288 |
| 6 | Alastair Cook | England | 161 | 12,472 |
| 7 | Kumar Sangakkara | Sri Lanka | 134 | 12,400 |
| 8 | Brian Lara | West Indies | 131 | 11,953 |
| 9 | Shivnarine Chanderpaul | West Indies | 164 | 11,867 |
| 10 | Mahela Jayawardene | Sri Lanka | 149 | 11,814 |
Surpassing Sachin?
Michael Atherton, former cricketer and now a sports journalist, said that Joe Root is in the prime of his career and if he continues to play this way, then he can also surpass Sachin Tendulkar‘s record for most Test runs. Root averages about 85 runs a Test match, so he’d likely need 30 Test matches to get up to Sachin Tendulkar’s Test record,” Atherton was quoted as saying by Sky.
Joe Root’s cricketing records
England’s highest run-scorer in both Test and One Day International (ODI) cricket, Root holds the national records for most Test centuries (37) and ODI centuries (18), as well as the record for most Test centuries at Lord’s (8).
Root, currently ranked as the world’s top Test batter by the latest ICC rankings, has had a remarkable Test career:
Matches: 156
Innings: 279
Runs: 13,290*
Average: 50.87
Centuries: 36
Root’s career at a glance
Born into a cricketing family in Yorkshire, Root made his Test debut for England in December 2012 against India. He scored his first Test century in 2013 to become the youngest English player to score an Ashes century at Lord’s, where he was also named Man of the Match. Root served as England’s Test captain from 2017 to 2022, becoming their most-capped and successful captain with 64 matches and 27 wins under who’s reign, England also won the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup.
Ben Stokes on Root’s performance
England captain Ben Stokes praised Root after the day’s play, “We’ve run out of words to describe Joe. What he’s achieved is phenomenal, and the best part is, he’s far from done.”