Wellington. England batsman Joe Root has created history by scoring 50 or more runs 100 times in Test cricket. He is the first English batsman and fourth player in the world to do so. Root achieved this feat during the second Test match against New Zealand at Basin Reserve. This was his 151st test match. He made this record by scoring 65th half-century in 76 balls in the third session. 33-year-old Root is currently the world number 1 Test batsman. He now has 35 centuries and 65 half-centuries to his name. He has scored more than 13,000 Test runs in a total of 276 innings.
In this list, Root has got the support of great batsman Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting. Sachin Tendulkar has the highest number of 50+ scores (119) in Test cricket, which includes 51 centuries and 68 half-centuries. At the same time, Kallis and Ponting have scored 50+ runs 103-103 times. This record of Root came at a time when he was struggling with poor form for some time. After scoring a brilliant 262 against Pakistan in Multan, he could not cross the 50 mark in 7 consecutive innings.
However, in the first innings of the second Test, he patiently scored a century to put England in a strong position. In the second innings too, apart from scoring a half-century, he made an important partnership of 95 runs with Harry Brook and crossed the 50-run mark. His innings further strengthened England's position. Furthermore, Root is close to achieving the feat of scoring 1,500 runs in Test cricket in 2024. Root, who has scored 1,417 runs so far this year, needs only 83 more runs to create this record. This record of scoring 1,500 Test runs in a calendar year more than once is only in the name of Ricky Ponting, who achieved this feat in 2003 and 2005. Root had earlier crossed the 1,500-run mark in 2021.
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