England Test captain Joe Root on Saturday achieved yet another feat in his astounding career, moving past the great Sachin Tendulkar to become the batter with the most half-centuries in the history of the format. The 35-year-old reached the milestone during the third Test against Pakistan in Birmingham, scoring an unbeaten 62 from 69 deliveries to help England complete an eight-wicket victory, to win the three-match series 3-0.
The unbeaten knock took Root’s tally of Test fifties to 69, one clear of Tendulkar’s 68. West Indies great Shivnarine Chanderpaul occupies third place on the all-time list with 66 half-centuries, while former Australia captain Allan Border and India legend Rahul Dravid have 63 apiece.
Root’s latest achievement came at the end of an unusually subdued Test series by his standards. The veteran finished the five-innings campaign against Pakistan with 164 runs and failed to register a century. He also endured two single-digit scores, making his unbeaten 62 in Birmingham particularly significant.
Root also remains within touching distance of another record held by Tendulkar, the highest aggregate of Test runs. The Master Blaster retired with 15,291 runs from 329 innings, while Root has now accumulated 14,278 runs in 309 innings. The England batter, therefore, needs 1,014 more runs to overtake the Indian legend.
What did Root say about the win?
{{/usCountry}}Root also remains within touching distance of another record held by Tendulkar, the highest aggregate of Test runs. The Master Blaster retired with 15,291 runs from 329 innings, while Root has now accumulated 14,278 runs in 309 innings. The England batter, therefore, needs 1,014 more runs to overtake the Indian legend.
What did Root say about the win?
{{/usCountry}}Root's second innings as the England Test captain began with a bang after he led the Three Lions to an emphatic 3-0 win over a listless Pakistan. Earlier this year, he was named as the skipper after Ben Stokes called time on his international career.
“We've had things go our own way a little bit throughout the series, and we had a little bit of pushback yesterday, which was, in a strange way, quite a good thing for the group. But for us to come through it and be so convincing in the way that we've finished the series off, and throughout the whole three games, really, has been really pleasing,” said Root after the win in the Edgbaston Test.
The seasoned England batter has been in the top of his game over the last four to five years, but the recent home summer was quite underwhelming by his standards as he failed to get a century in the three Tests against New Zealand and the three against Pakistan. He would now hope to make amends in the series against South Africa later this year.