In a remarkable single day, English star Joe Root surpassed three great cricketers to climb to second place on the all-time Test run-scorers list.
After overtaking Rahul Dravid and Jacques Kallis, Root still had a long way to go to reach Ricky Ponting. But with brilliant batting, he chased that target down, leaving the Australian legend behind to claim second spot among the highest run-scorers in Test history.
Root achieved this milestone on the third day of the Old Trafford Test against India on Friday. Now, only India’s legendary Sachin Tendulkar, who scored 15,921 runs in 329 innings, stands above him.
To surpass Ponting in this Test, Root needed 120 runs, while to overtake Dravid and Kallis he required just 30 and 31 runs respectively. Within the first hour of the day, Root quickly passed Dravid and Kallis to move up to third place.
Starting the day on 11 runs, he reached his fifty off 99 balls and went on to score his 38th Test century off 178 deliveries.
The much-awaited moment arrived just before the end of the second session when Root took a single off Anshul Kambose’s delivery to reach 120 runs, officially overtaking Ponting.
Indian great Rahul Dravid ended his Test career with 13,288 runs in 286 innings. South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis scored 13,289 runs in 280 innings. Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting amassed 13,378 runs in 287 innings.
Root, who made his Test debut in 2012, took 286 innings to surpass them all.
