England’s batting maestro Joe Root had a milestone laden first session on Day 3 of the fourth Test against India at Old Trafford in Manchester. Having first become the third-highest run-scorer in Test cricket, Root became the player with second most fifties in Test cricket.
With his latest fifty-plus score, Root has now overtaken Australia's Ricky Ponting and South Africa's Jacques Kallis to move into second place on the all-time list.
Root now has 104 scores of 50 or more in the longest format, trailing only the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, who tops the chart with a staggering 119 fifty-plus scores.
This elite list reads like a who's who of batting greatness, with Root leaving behind the likes of Ponting (103), Kallis (103), and Rahul Dravid (99).
Most 50-plus scores in Test cricket- 119 - Sachin Tendulkar
- 104 - Joe Root
- 103 - Ricky Ponting
- 103 - Jacques Kallis
- 99 - Rahul Dravid
Earlier in the day,
Root became the third-highest run-scorer in Test history. Root started the match needing 30 more runs to surpass Dravid (13,288 runs in 164 Tests) and 31 to overtake Kallis (13,289 in 166 Tests), both of whom are retired.
The 34-year-old Root, appearing in his 157th Test, went past Kallis with an offside single off Mohammed Siraj.
His achievement was greeted by applause and familiar shouts of "Rooot" from the crowd in Manchester.
At that stage England were 261/2 in reply to India's first-innings score of 358, a deficit of 97 runs, on the third day's play.
Next in Root's sights is retired Ponting, who made 13,378 runs in 168 matches. India's Tendulkar is safe in top spot for now, having scored a mammoth 15,921 runs in 200 Tests, but Root has time on his side.
England are 2-1 up in the five-match series, with the final Test at the Oval starting next week.
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