Joe Root upstages Virat Kohli to achieve new world record during opening day of Pakistan-England Test

Opting to bat first, England had a blast on the opening day of the Rawalpindi Test versus hosts Pakistan on Thursday (December 01). Ben Stokes-led English line-up went to stumps at 506-4, riding on centuries from openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett,Ollie Pope and Harry Brooks, and created a world record of scoring most runs by a team on Day 1 of a Test.

Former English captain Joe Root didn't make the most of the batting-friendly wicket, in Rawalpindi, and was dismissed for 23. Nonetheless, the right-handerachieved a new world record by upstaging arch-rival Virat Kohli. By virtue of his knock, Root has now become the leading run-scorer of all time in competitions comprisingfiveor more teams,such as the ICC World Test Championship, T20 World Cup, ODI World Cup, and ICC Champions Trophy.

The 31-year-old Root has 5,121 runs, at52.25, along with 15 centuries and 22 half-centuriesin 77 matches. On the other hand, the Indian star batter Kohli's tally reads5,107 runs in 114 games, averaging an impressive51.58 withsix hundreds and as many as 40 half-centuries in such multi-nation competitions (with 5 or more teams).

Rootwill like to add more runs to his overall tally in the second innings of the first Test versus Pakistan. The visitors are cruising towards the 600-run mark, at the time of publishing this report, and have put the Babar Azam-led Pakistan on the back foot in the series opener.