Joe Root in action for England against Pakistan© AFP
England cricket team star batter Joe Root scripted history by achieving a mammoth feat on Day 2 of the first Test match against Pakistan in Multan on Tuesday. Root became the first batter in history to score 5000 runs in the World Test Championship (WTC) as he slammed 32 off 54 deliveries with the help of two fours. Root came into the match needing 27 runs to achieve the huge feat and he now has 5005 runs in 59 matches. Australia's Marnus Labuschagne is second with 3904 runs while his compatriot Steve Smith occupies the third spot with 3484 runs.
Root can achieve another huge feat during the ongoing Test match as he is just 39 runs away from overtaking Alastair Cook as England's top-scorer in Tests.
Meanwhile, Root took a step closer to matching Sachin Tendulkar's elusive record for 1000-plus Test runs in most calendar years.
After Pakistan slammed a mammoth 556-run total on the back of centuries from Salman Ali Agha (104*), Abdullah Shafique (102) and skipper Shan Masood (151)
Root stepped up to steady visitors ship after England lost stand-in skipper Ollie Pope to Naseem Shah early in the first innings. He approached each delivery that came his way with caution to ensure that England didn't lose further wickets after losing Pope.
While exercising caution, Root heavily relied on rotating the strike, found the boundary rope twice and walked back unbeaten with a score of 32(54).
Root, who has been tipped to go past Sachin's tally in red-ball cricket, returned to the dressing room after crossing 1,000 Test runs in 2024. This was the fifth calendar year when the 33-year-old managed to cross the 1,000-run mark in Test cricket.
He just needs to put up another calendar year where he hits the 1,000 Test runs mark to go level with 'Master Blaster' Sachin Tendulkar.
Sachin currently sits at the summit with a whopping tally of six calendar years in which he garnered 1000-plus Test runs.
With a tally of five, Root is now level with Brian Lara, Matthew Hayden, Jacques Kallis, Ricky Ponting, Kumar Sangakkara and Alastair Cook for scoring 1000-plus Test runs in most calendar years.
(With ANI inputs)