New Delhi: Senior England batter Joe Root equalled the record for most Test centuries by an English batter in the format’s history. The Yorkshire-born player achieved the feat on the Thursday, the first day of the second Test between England and Sri Lanka played at the Lord’s in London.
Stuck on 99 for while, the England No.4 batter played as many as 12 dot balls before fetching the gap past the gully for a boundary off Lahiru Kumara’s good length delivery to complete his century. Root has now scored his 33rd century in Test cricket, levelling the record of his predecessor Sir Alastair Cook, who is England’s highest run-getter in the format.
Overall, Root is at the 10th position (jointly with Cook) in the list of most hundreds in Tests. Legendary Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar holds the pole position for at least a decade-and-a-half. He has 51 Test centuries from 200 matches played between 1989 and 2013. The list is followed by Jacques Kallis (45), Ricky Ponting (41), Kumar Sangakkara (38), and Rahul Dravid (36).
Joe Root goes past Kane Williamson, Steve Smith to muster most Test centuries among active cricketers
Batting on a slow pitch against a controlled Sri Lanka bowling attack, Joe Root was unflustered and kept his natural game on display. With England losing wickets in regular intervals, the senior man stepped up to stitch crucial partnerships in the middle order with Harry Brook (48) and wicketkeeper Jamie Smith (62) to keep the hosts’ innings alive in the second session.
Root later stitched another 50-plus-run stand with pace sensation Gus Atkinson, where he completed his 33rd Test ton. The feat now takes him past his contemporaries Steven Smith (Australia) and Kane Williamson (New Zealand) to score most centuries among active Test players. The two trans-Tasman rivals have 32 centuries each in their account.
Former Indian captain Virat Kohli is behind the trio with 29 Test centuries from 113 matches. No other active Test batter has scored more than 20 Test centuries with Indian batter Cheteshwar Pujara, who played his last Test in June 2023 at the Oval, has accounted for 19 tons against the red cherry.
Joe Root is at the 10th position (jointly with Cook) in the list of most hundreds in Test cricket history. Legendary Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar holds the pole position for at least a decade-and-a-half. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
