Joe Root Becomes England’s All-Time Leading Test Run-Scorer, Surpassing Alastair Cook- 2024 Updated
Joe Root has officially surpassed Alastair Cook to become England’s top run scorer in Test cricket, marking a historic moment for the national team.
At the Multan International Cricket Stadium, Root accomplished this incredible accomplishment on the third day of the England team’s first Test match against Pakistan. He scored 71 runs with a straight drive for four.
On the dressing-room balcony of the Multan International Cricket Stadium, Root waved his hand—and then his bat—to the England players and coaching staff, acknowledging the historic moment. He began this tour 70 runs behind Cook’s 12,472 career total, but he passed him by putting Aamer Jamal out of sight.
Root beat Cook’s record last month at Lord’s to become the Englishman with the most Test hundreds when he scored two hundreds against Sri Lanka. Now that he has passed Cook in terms of total runs as well, he is ranked sixth among all-time Test cricket run scorers. In fourth place, he was more over 800 runs behind Rahul Dravid when he passed Cook.
Cook thinks Root has a good chance of beating Sachin Tendulkar’s world record, even if he is still more than 3,000 runs behind it. Cook told the BBC, “I can see him overhauling Sachin Tendulkar’s record.” “I believed there was a good chance my record would be surpassed when I retired. All I imagined would stop him would be the hunger that drains you and the affects of captaincy. Ben Stokes taking over as captain has, in my opinion, benefited Root.
“It’s fair to say that Sachin remains the front-runner, but only just. He’s had such good luck with his wounds. Long-serving great players have all been fortunate to have injuries. You never know what’s going to come around the bend, but it has to be something substantial enough to deter him. However, I don’t think Root will lose his motivation or capacity to keep pushing himself over the course of the next few years.
“The Ashes series, which is often the subject of events, will be the only little obstacle in his path. In fourteen months, there will be another Ashes series, and every time one happens, there will be a tale about the harm that results. Sachin gets my vote of 51%, Root 49%. However, I would wager that Root would succeed.”
Prior to the opening Test, Root had downplayed the importance of the record. “The only reason it’s on my mind is because people keep asking me about it, to be honest,” he stated. “I intend to play Test cricket for a very long time. It’s not as though I’m going to reach a checkpoint or a milestone and declare, “Okay, I’m done for now.” I just want to keep playing and having fun with the game.”
On the second evening in Multan, Root was batting at No. 3, which was a position higher than normal for him because Ben Duckett was unable to open the batting and Ollie Pope filled in for him. Following their innings’ opening walk-out to bat in the second over, England gradually reduced the deficit thanks to century partnerships between Root, Zak Crawley, and Duckett (who recovered over night and entered at No. 4).
On the third morning, Root advanced steadily and, at the start of the drinks break, he inside-edged Naseem Shah through square leg to reach 50 for the 99th time in his Test career. After Aamer Jamal hit him on the pad and Pakistan attempted in vain to review, he narrowly avoided an LBW shout on 65. Four balls later, he set a new England record.
