Joe Root surpassed Rahul Dravid and Jacques Kallis' tally of runs in the ongoing Manchester Test.
In the morning session of the third day’s play of the ongoing India versus England Test at Old Trafford, Joe Root surpassed Rahul Dravid and Jacques Kallis to become the third-highest run scorer in the longest format.
Before the game, the English talisman needed 31 runs to go past Kallis’ tally of 13,289 runs and he achieved the objective by taking a single on the fifth delivery of the 58th over.
Root, who leads the ICC Men’s Test Rankings for batters, will now have a chance to become the second leading run getter in Tests on Friday (July 25). He needs to score at least 120 runs in the first innings to achieve that feat.
As of now, Australian legend Ricky Ponting is the second-highest run scorer in Test cricket. Ponting played 168 matches from 1995 to 2012 and amassed a total of 13,378 runs.
Ahead of the third day’s play in Manchester, Ponting was asked about the possibility of Root overtaking him and becoming the second leading run getter in Tests.
In reply, Ponting said that Root could break his record on Friday itself. “He is, and if he keeps going like he is, that could very well happen today. We just spoke about it then; it’s a great day for batting, and what a remarkable career it’s been for Joe (Root). I haven’t had a chance to talk about him much, obviously, the last few years not being around but how he’s sort of transformed from someone that couldn’t go on past 50 to 100, and now it seems like every time he gets to 50, he’s marking down for 100 or a big 100," Ponting said on the Sky Sports pre-match show.
He also backed Root to break Indian icon Sachin Tendulkar’s world record of 15,921 runs and become the highest run scorer in Test cricket.
“I was looking at some of the numbers then, 37 Test Match 100s, 13,000 runs—what an amazing career to date, and there’s still a fair bit to go. What is he, 35? It doesn’t look like his passion for the game has gone anywhere. His run-scoring passion has probably gone up over the years. Yesterday (Thursday) it was coming up; can he chase down Sachin? Let’s see, he might well do that," Ponting added.