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Joe Root starred with the bat in the opening Test between Pakistan and England in Multan on Day 3 (Wednesday, October 9). The right-handed batter scored his 35th century to go past former India captain Sunil Gavaskar’s tally of 34 hundreds in Tests.
Root achieved the landmark during the 63rd over of England’s first innings. The 33-year-old played a reverse sweep off a flighted delivery outside leg from Abrar Ahmed. He took a single to reach the feat and then took his helmet off and raised his bat to soak in the applause. This was his second Test ton against Pakistan after his 254 in 2016.
Watch the video below:
Joe Root now has the joint second-highest Test tons for England away from home. The Yorkshire batter equalled Ken Barrington (14 tons in 58 innings). He is now only behind former England captain Alastair Cook (19 tons in 136 innings).
With his fifth ton of the year, Root has the joint most tons alongside Sri Lanka’s Kamindu Mendis in 2024. The former English skipper has been phenomenal this decade, scoring 18 out of his 35 Test tons after 2020.
Overall, legendary Sachin Tendulkar (51) tops the list of most tons in Test cricket. The top five list features South Africa’s Jacques Kallis (45), Australia’s Ricky Ponting (41), Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara (38) and Rahul Dravid (36) of India.
Earlier in the day, Joe Root went past Alastair Cook (12,472) to become the leading run-getter for England in Tests. He is now only behind Tendulkar (15,921), Ponting (13,378), Kallis (13,289) and Rahul Dravid (13,288).
Joe Root puts England in driving seat against Pakistan in 1st Test
Joe Root’s century has placed England in a commanding position against Pakistan in 1st Test on Day 3.
At the time of writing, the visitors were 359/3, with Root (120) and Harry Brook (68) at the crease. They are trailing by 197 runs in the first innings.
Batting first, Pakistan put up 556 in their first innings, courtesy of centuries from skipper Shan Masood, Abdullah Shafique, and Agha Salman.
Follow the PAK vs ENG 1st Test live score and updates here.
