Wed Oct 09 07:02:06 UTC 2024: ## Joe Root Breaks Record, England Stumbles in Pakistan Test
**Rawalpindi, Pakistan:** England’s star batsman Joe Root continued his stellar form, smashing a record in the first Test against Pakistan. While Pakistan piled on a mammoth 556 runs in their first innings thanks to centuries from Abdullah Shafique (102), captain Shan Masood (151), and Salman Agha (104), England’s opening batsman, captain Ollie Pope, was dismissed early.
However, Root and Zak Crawley held firm. Root reached a significant milestone, becoming the first batsman ever to score 5,000 runs in the ICC World Test Championship. He achieved this feat by scoring 32 runs in the second day of the Test, reaching a total of 5005 runs in 59 matches. This puts him ahead of Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne (3904 runs) and Steve Smith (3484 runs) in the all-time rankings. Ben Stokes (3101 runs) and Babar Azam (2755 runs) occupy the fourth and fifth spots, respectively. Notably, no Indian batsman features in the top five.
Root is on the verge of another record. He is just 39 runs away from surpassing Alastair Cook as England’s highest run-scorer in Tests. Additionally, he has already achieved a remarkable feat, becoming the fifth batsman in history to score 1000+ runs in a calendar year five times. He is now in the company of cricketing legends like Brian Lara, Matthew Hayden, Jacques Kallis, Ricky Ponting, Kumar Sangakkara, and Alastair Cook.
Despite Root’s heroics, England faces an uphill battle in the Test. They need a significant turnaround in their batting performance to challenge Pakistan’s strong lead.
First Piper 