Joe Root continued his record-breaking run in Test cricket!
The England batter led the visitors' strong reply with an unbeaten century on Day 3 of the first Test against Pakistan in Multan on Wednesday.
Root took a single off spinner Abrar Ahmed to bring up his 35th Test century from 167 balls as he went past the legendary trio of Sunil Gavaskar, Brian Lara and Younis Khan, who had made 34 centuries in their career.
This was Root's fifth century in 2024 -- the joint most by any player this year along with Sri Lankan Kamindu Mendis. He is the only batter to go past the 1000-run mark in 2024.
The 33-year-old England batter has the most centuries by any active player in Test cricket. He is sixth in the overall list behind Sachin Tendulkar (51), Jacques Kallis 45, Ricky Ponting (41), Kumar Sangakkara (38) and Rahul Dravid (36).
Earlier, Root overtook Alastair Cook as England's leading run-scorer in Test cricket and guide the team to 332/3 in 66 overs on the third day of their opening match against Pakistan on Wednesday.
Root began the day on 32 not out, needing a further 39 runs to eclipse Cook's tally of 12,472, and the former captain eased to his target with an on-drive for four off Aamer Jamal before soaking up loud applause from the travelling English fans.
Root got to his 65th Test fifty earlier with an inside edge and the 33-year-old survived a loud lbw appeal to go past Cook's record and into the top-five in the all-time list behind Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar.
Resuming on 96/1 after Pakistan amassed 556 in their first innings on a flat pitch at the Multan Cricket Stadium, England lost Zak Crawley for 78 inside the first hour when the opener flicked one from Shaheen Afridi to Aamer Jamal at mid-wicket.
That abruptly ended the 109-run stand for the second wicket but England were in no mood to slow down.
Duckett, who dislocated his left thumb while taking a catch and was unable to open on Tuesday, showed no signs of the issue as he took to the crease and smashed spinner Abrar Ahmed out of the attack temporarily with three boundaries in the 30th over.
He needed only 45 balls to bring up his half-century as the hosts struggled to keep the run-rate under five an over.
