England’s star batter Joe Root, currently ranked No. 1 in the ICC Test batter rankings as of Sunday (September 8), surpassed former Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara to become the sixth-highest run scorer in Test cricket. Root, 33, has been in exceptional form recently and overtook Sangakkara’s total of 12,400 runs after scoring 11 runs in the second innings of the ongoing third Test against Sri Lanka at The Oval.
Sangakkara concluded his illustrious 15-year Test career with 12,400 runs in 134 matches. Root, on the other hand, has now accumulated 12,402 runs from 267 innings in 146 Tests.
At the top of the list for the most Test runs is India’s Sachin Tendulkar, who retired with 15,921 runs in 200 matches. He is followed by Ricky Ponting (13,378 runs), South Africa’s Jacques Kallis (13,289 runs), India’s Rahul Dravid (13,288 runs), and England’s Alastair Cook (12,472 runs).
– Sachin Tendulkar (India) – 15,921
– Ricky Ponting (Australia) – 13,378
– Jacques Kallis (South Africa) – 13,289
– Rahul Dravid (India) – 13,288
– Alastair Cook (England) – 12,472
– Joe Root (England) – 12,402*
– Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) – 12,400
With Sangakkara’s record now behind him, Root will aim to make history by becoming the first batter to score 5,000 runs in the World Test Championship. He needs just 27 more runs to reach this milestone.
If Root scores at least 83 more runs in the second innings, he will surpass Cook to become England’s all-time leading Test run scorer. Additionally, a century in the current innings will place Root in the No. 6 spot for most Test centuries.
Sachin Tendulkar holds the record for most Test centuries, with 51 hundreds. Kallis follows with 45 centuries in 166 Tests for South Africa, while Ponting has 41 centuries in 161 Tests. Sangakkara has 38 centuries to his name, while Dravid has 36 in 164 Tests.
In the previous Test at Lord’s, Root surpassed Cook’s record of 33 Test centuries for England by hitting centuries in both innings.
