Joe Root becomes fastest to 11,000 Test runs

LONDON: Former England captain and star batter Joe Root on Friday, became the fastest batter to complete 11,000 Test runs amid his side’s ongoing one-off Test against Ireland.

Veteran Joe Root achieved the milestone when he completed 52 runs before Tea on Day 2 of the ongoing four-day Test against Ireland.

The right-handed batter is only the 11th batter overall to accumulate this many runs in the longest format. India’s batting great Sachin Tendulkar leads the chart with a whopping 15,921 runs in 200 Tests.

Joe Root is also the fastest batter in terms of innings to reach the milestone in just his 130th match, surpassing West Indies’ batting great Brian Lara, who took 131 matches to achieve the same feat.

Former England captain Joe Root is also the fastest English batter to reach the milestone bettering his preceding captain Alastair Cook, who amassed 11,000 runs in 161 Tests.

Joe Root, however, failed to convert his brilliant half-century into a hundred as he fell briefly after Tea when Andy McBrine castled him. He scored 56 from 59 balls, laced up with four boundaries and a six.

Meanwhile, England lived up to their aggressive ‘Bazball’ style with the bat as they piled up a massive 524/4 in response to Ireland’s 172 before declaring their first innings in the final session of the second day.

Ollie Pope and Ben Duckett were the stars with the bat for England; scoring a double century and a hundred respectively.

Pope top-scored for England after the fastest double century at Lord’s and finished at 205 off 208 deliveries, hitting 22 boundaries and three sixes.

Duckett, on the other hand, was equally impressive but was unlucky as he fell just 18 short of a double ton; scoring 182 in just 178 deliveries including 24 boundaries and a six.

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