The present-day batting legend of England, Joe Root, was the star attraction on the first and second days of the current Ashes decider against Australia. The gap separating Joe root and the former great batter Sachin Tendulkar in the list of Test run-scorers has become less wide.
Additionally, he has tied with the former Australian great Ricky Ponting among the players with the most Test centuries. The milestone was reached during the ongoing SCG Test against Australia, where he hit his 41st Test ton on the second day of the match.
Joe Root shortens the gap with batting immortality
The London-born batsman has made a distance of 1,996 runs between him and Sachin Tendulkar, the ruler of all-time Test scorers, through his extravagant 160-run performance against the yellow-clad battalion. So now, the gap between Sachin’s 15,921 Test runs and Joe Root’s 13,937 is just 1,996, i.e., under 2000 runs only.
Besides coming closer to the Test runs of Tendulkar, Root is just 10 centuries shy of the former’s record of 51 Test tons, the most by any batter in Test history. At the same time, he is in the second place, alongside Ricky Ponting, in the list of players with the most Test tons.
Look through the players who have scored most 150-plus runs in a Test match –
Sachin Tendulkar (IND) – 20
Brian Lara (WI) – 19
Kumar Sangakkara (SL) – 19
Sir Donald Bradman (AUS) – 18
Joe Root (ENG) – 17*
Mahela Jayawardene (SL) – 16
On the other hand, Root and Harry Brook started the second day with England at 211 for three in only 45 overs. After losing nearly as many overs to bad light and passing rain the day before, both teams were eager to take advantage of the second day.
Brook was the first to lose his wicket scoring a good 84 runs, then Mitchell Starc sent the England captain Ben Stokes back to the pavilion without scoring which put England in a difficult situation. The wicketkeeper under pressure Jamie Smith came to the rescue of Root who reached his 41st Test hundred, the second on Australian soil.
The duo scored a good partnership with Smith just a step away from his fifty when he got out to one of the part-timer Marnus Labuschagne on 46. Root achieved his first 150 in the land of his ancestors before Michael Neser caught the summer of his bowling to get him out on 160.
Root’s inning on the second day of the SCG Test was also the first one in the international cricket world in this year.
England been bowled out for 384 runs. Australia, at the same time, opened their account with a fifty-run partnership for the first wicket and still counting.