&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "All hail Joe Root! England great goes past Dravid, Kallis in runs tally in Tests; Ponting next")
Joe Root has done it; he has surpassed batting greats Rahul Dravid (13,288) and Jacques Kallis (13,289) on the list of batters with most runs in Test cricket, climbing to the third spot just behind Ricky Ponting (13378) and Sachin Tendulkar (15921). Pushing a short of a length delivery off Mohammed Siraj to the off side (in the 58th over) saw him surpass the batting greats, cutting the gap with Punter in the quest to end up with the most runs to his name in red-ball cricket.
Root began day three on 11 not out, 20 short of Kallis’ Test runs tally, with his partner Ollie Pope soaking pressure at the other end.
Also read | IND vs ENG 2025: England opener Crawley admits enjoying his role in ‘time-wasting row’ in Lord’s Test
Root is hands down England’s greatest Test batter. Since making his Test debut against India in Nagpur 13 years ago (in 2012), Root has been on a run-scoring spree. The right-handed batter always looked determined to achieve greatness, and although he did taste immense success in white-ball cricket, winning the home ODI World Cup in 2019, he belonged to Tests, where his form peaked at the start of the new decade.
Root was part of the Test Cricket‘s ‘Fab-Four’, a term given to the four best batters of the past decade, also including former Indian captain Virat Kohli, Australian legend Steve Smith and New Zealand great Kane Williamson.
At the start of 2020, Root was last among those batters with the most Test hundreds (17), with Virat leading the chart by a clear margin. The tides turned afterwards.
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Five years later, he now leads the chart with 37 Test centuries to his name and counting, while everyone else is chasing him. Among all the active cricketers, he stands tall on this tally, with Smith one behind and Williamson four.
Root’s unmatched legacy
Of all the batting records he holds, there are several that are headline-worthy.
- Most Matches as a Test captain – 64
- Most Wins as England captain – 27
- Most Test Runs for England – 13,270*
- Most Test Hundreds for England – 37*
- Most Test Runs in England – 7065*
- Most Test Catches – 211*
Meanwhile, Root had hit a hundred in the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy in the third Test at Lord’s, scoring 104, helping England win the match and take a 2-1 lead in this five-match series.
