"Joe Root should be 2nd in the list by the end of 2025 summer" - Fans hail England star for overtaking Brian Lara in overall Test runs

England star Joe Root continued his record-breaking spree by overtaking West Indian legend Brian Lara in the all-time runs chart in Tests. The 33-year-old entered the second Test against the West Indies 13 runs behind Lara's 11,953 runs and raced past him in England's first innings on Day 2.

Root is now seventh all-time in Test runs and second among English batters behind only Sir Alastair Cook. The champion batter scored a magnificent 122 in the second innings of England's series-clinching 241-run win in the second game of the three-match affair.

He now trails only his former teammate Cook, the Indian duo of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara, South Africa's Jacques Kallis and Australia's Ricky Ponting in the all-time Test run-scoring chart.

Fans on Twitter hailed Root for his incredible achievement of overtaking Brian Lara to become the seventh leading Test scorer with the following reactions:

Fans continued their praise for Root with one saying:

"Joe Root overtaking Brian Lara for all time test runs whilst England are 60-5 sums up his entire career. An unbelievable achievement to do it averaging 50, given the conditions he's played in his whole England test career."

"Joe Root should be 2nd in the list by the end of 2025 summer," tweeted a fan.

"Something feels very poignant that Joe Root climbs above the great Brian Lara to 7th in the all-time Test Match run scorers list during a Test Match against West Indies and at the ground on which Lara scored his legendary 501*," a fan said.

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Joe Root resurrects England's innings from the doldrums

Records aside, Joe Root is in the midst of another game-changing batting display in the second Test against the West Indies at Edgbaston. The veteran batter came in late on Day 1 with the hosts reeling at 31/3 in reply to West Indies' first innings total of 282.

The situation worsened when England slipped to 54/5 in the first session on Day 2 before Root steadied the ship with a defiant half-century. The Yorkshire-born batter averages an exemplary 50.15 with 32 centuries and 62 fifties in his stellar 143-match Test career.

As things stand, Root is on 50* and only 10 runs away from the 12,000 runs mark in Tests. Meanwhile, England have recovered from the top-order collapse, thanks to Root's half-century and skipper Ben Stokes's brief vigil, and are 126/5 with lunch fast approaching on the second day.