England have continued to play in their famous 'Bazball' way in the first Test against Pakistan in Multan. In response to the home team's 556 in the first innings, the visitors have started strongly with their opener Zak Crawley smashing 78 runs in just 85 deliveries with 13 fours to his name. With this knock, Crawley went past Rohit Sharma in the list of players with the most runs in the World Test Championship (WTC) history.
Crawley is now the seventh-highest run-scorer in WTC since its inception having amassed 2638 runs in 76 innings at an average of 35.17 with 15 fifties and four centuries to his name. On the other hand, the Indian skipper Rohit has so far scored 2594 runs in just 58 innings at an impeccable average of 47.16 with nine centuries and seven fifties to his credit.
Interestingly, both India and England have a lot of Tests scheduled in the upcoming months. Crawley will be in action in two more matches against Pakistan and then England will also play three Tests against New Zealand away from home in November-December this year.
As for India, they will play three Test matches against New Zealand at home starting from October 16 and then tour Australia for five Test matches commencing November 22.
Regarding the leading run-scorers in WTC, Joe Root is on top and the only player to cross the 5000-run mark. He achieved the feat after reaching 27 runs in the first innings and is on his way to notch up his 17th century in WTC history. He has also become the leading run-scorer for England in the history of Test cricket surpassing Alastair Cook.
Leading run-scorers in WTC history
| Players | Runs |
| Joe Root (England) | 5031 |
| Marnus Labuschagne (Australia) | 3904 |
| Steve Smith (Australia) | 3486 |
| Ben Stokes (England) | 3101 |
| Babar Azam (Pakistan) | 2755 |
| Usman Khawaja (Australia) | 2686 |
| Zak Crawley (England) | 2638 |
| Rohit Sharma (India) | 2594 |
