Continuing Record Breaking Spree, Joe Root Surpasses Sunil Gavaskar, Brian Lara

Continuing his record-breaking spree, England batter Joe Root became the first batter to score 5,000 runs in the history of the World Test Championship (WTC) on Wednesday.

He also surpassed a number of cricket legends as he scored his 35th Test century against Pakistan. With 35 centuries, he went past India legend Sunil Gavaskar, Pakistan stalwart Younis Khan, Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene and West Indian icon Brian Lara.

With 35 Test centuries in his bag Root now is in sixth position when it comes to the most centuries in Test cricket. He trails Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis, Ricky Ponting, Kumar Sangakkara and Rahul Dravid. Root reached the milestone in his 147th Test match. He has scored more than 12,000 Test runs.

With Pakistan having posted a massive 556 in the first innings, Root scored his hundred in 167 balls.

Root also crossed 1,000 Test runs in the calendar year of 2024 during the knock, becoming the first batter to do so this year.