Joe Root Scripts History, Goes Past Sachin Tendulkar To Become...

Ace England batter and Test captain Joe Root on Saturday, September 12, went past batting legend Sachin Tendulkar to score a record 69th Test half-century, as he became the cricketer with the most fifty-plus scores in the longest format, going past Tendulkar’s tally of 68.

England reached their 130-run target in the 25th over, with Root unbeaten on 62 and Jordan Cox on 59*.

Root reached his fifty off 57 deliveries with a cut for a boundary, breaking the big record held by Tendulkar.

Most fifties in Tests

69* – Joe Root

68 – Sachin Tendulkar

66 – S Chanderpaul

63 – Allan Border

63 – Rahul Dravid

Root also became the first batter to go past 1,000 Test runs at Edgbaston. The England star has now achieved the feat at four different Test venues, with 2,203

runs at Lord’s, 1,128 in Manchester and 1,050 at The Oval.

Root, England’s record run-scorer, edged his first ball from Razaullah through the slips for a boundary, making a nervy start. He soon settled in, however and scored to ease the pressure on England.

Root, with Cox at the other end, had another let-off when he edged an Abbas ball between first and second slip, with neither fielder moving.

Root, in his second stint as England skipper after Ben Stokes’ departure, admitted that his team weren’t yet the finished article but said that he was delighted with their series win against Pakistan.

“The amount of uncertainty, noise and, I guess, chaos there was coming into the series, the way the guys have dealt with that, being so clinical with what we have had in front of us and being stood here with a 3-0 win is really pleasing,” Root said while speaking to Sky Sports.

“It sets us up nicely looking ahead to the start of a new era with (new head coach) Stephen Fleming coming in,” Root added.

England celebrated their first Test series win since 2024, while Pakistan suffered their 16th loss in their last 21 games and remained rooted to the bottom of the World Test Championship table.