Joe Root continues his red-hot form with another sensational fifty in the ongoing second Test match against Sri Lanka at Lord’s on Thursday, August 29. The star English batter recorded his 97th fifty-plus score in Test cricket to shatter a couple of big records.
England lost two early wickets after being forced to bat first in the second Test at Lord’s. Root kept the runs flowing with crucial partnerships with Ben Duckett and Harry Brook and helped England fight back in the second session.
The 33-year-old batter who shattered a match-winning unbeaten fifty in the first match, picked up where he left off and pulled another impressive innings. He reached a 50-tun mark in 84 balls and surpassed the Caribbean legend Shivnarine Chanderpaul in an exclusive list of players with the most 50+ scores in red-ball cricket.
Only four cricketers have scored more 50+ plus knocks in Test cricket than Root who needs seven more fifties to go second in the list. Root scored 64* off 98 balls as England seemed to find some quick runs in the middle stages with a 165/4 total in 43 overs.
Most 50+ scores in Test cricket
- Sachin Tendulkar – 119 fifty-plus scores in 329 Test innings
- Jacques Kallis – 103 fifty-plus scores in 280 Test innings
- Ricky Ponting – 103 fifty-plus scores in 287 Test innings
- Rahul Dravid – 99 fifty-plus scores in 286 Test innings
- Joe Root – 97 fifty-plus scores in 264 Test innings
- Shivanarine Chanderpaul – 96 fifty-plus scores in 280 Test innings
Root also became the second-highest all-time leading run-getter in international cricket among active players after scoring 48 runs. He surpassed West Indies veteran Chris Gayle and now needs only 400* runs to complete 20,000 international runs. He is only behind the Indian great Virat Kohli who comfortably dominates the top spot with 26,942 runs.
Most international runs by active cricketers (all formats)
- Virat Kohli – 26942 runs in 591 international innings
- Joe Root – 19600 runs in 453 international innings
- Chris Gayle – 19593 runs in 551 international innings
- Rohit Sharma – 19234 runs in 509 international innings
- Kane Willamson – 18128 runs in 423 international innings
- Steve Smith – 16225 runs in 392 international innings
