England's former captain Nasser Hussain once rated Joe Root as the greatest ever to don the English jersey. Root, who made his debut for the English team in December 2012, has risen in the ranks of cricket greats and now holds a special place among many cricket fans and pundits. Come June 16 on Friday. After stepping down from captaincy, Root is featuring as a player yet again in the Ashes and now in a new era of 'Bazball' cricket. On Day 1 of the Birmingham Test, Root's sensational hundred powered England to 393 on the opening day of the Ashes. His celebrations later seemed of him removing the demons as it was his first Test ton against the Aussies since 2015.
Root's 118 off 152 came in a bit of a new avatar and added one more to his 29 Test centuries that took him past Sir Don Bradman's 29. Root is quickest English player to score 30 tons and he broke Alastair Cook's record. Three years before, who thought Root would come ahead in this velocity? But let me put some staggering numbers to show what the 32-year-old is doing over these years.
Root since 2021
Before 2021, Joe Root had 17 Test hundreds and 49 half-centuries. His conversion rate was poor and Root was usually under the scanner for not being able to reach the three-figure mark. At the same time, India's star Virat Kohli had 27 Test tons and 23 fifties as the Indian stalwart had a few memorable years with the bat before that.
But since 2021, Root is on a different mode. He has hit 3299 runs in 62 innings since 2021 at an average of 59.91 and has a high score of 228. No other batter has scored even 2000 runs in this period.
Joe Root's numbers
Virat Kohli's numbers
Overall, Root has 11122 runs in 131 matches at an average of 50.78. Whereas, Virat Kohli has 8479 runs in 109 Tests at an average of 48.72. Not only Virat Kohli but Root has possibly faded many other cricketers too. Root has also scored 13 Test hundreds since 2021. None of any cricketer has scored more than 7 centuries and the likes of Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith and Babar Azam are all behind him in these tallies.
Root now poses a big threat to Sachin
Meanwhile, Joe Root looks on a mission now. The 32-year-old has 11122 runs in Test cricket and is the 11th leading-run scorer in the history of the longest format. While 11 might sound a bit way too far but given his young age and the number of matches England play every year (obviously his form too), Root has a chance to go past the Legendary Sachin Tendulkar's record of most runs in Tests. The Indian Legend has 15921 runs in Test cricket and leads Root by 4799 runs.
It shall be noted that Kohli was India's brightest star in the previous decade in Test cricket and has now found runs on his back again after a lean patch since 2019. Kohli, who did not score any Test hundred in 2020, 2021, and 2022, made one in 5 matches this year. If Kohli continues his one-off ton, he might be still in the race to amass huge runs and hundreds but as time looks, it's Root ahead of Kohli now.
