Delhi: England captain Joe Root has achieved another big achievement in the Headingley Test against Pakistan. Root, known for his excellent consistency in Test cricket, has equaled a big record of Sachin Tendulkar.
On the second day of the match, Root completed his 68th Test half-century. He was out after scoring 66 runs on 112 balls. He hit 10 fours in his innings. With this, Root has reached par with Sachin Tendulkar in the list of batsmen who have scored most half centuries in Test cricket. Tendulkar has also scored 68 half-centuries in his Test career.
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Top 5 players who scored most half centuries in test
| rank | batsman | Country | half century |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Joe Root | England | 68 |
| 2. | Sachin Tendulkar | India | 68 |
| 3. | Shivnarine Chanderpaul | west indies | 66 |
| 4. | alan border | Australia | 63 |
| 4. | Rahul Dravid | India | 63 |
| 5. | ricky ponting | Australia | 62 |
This achievement is also special for Root because he has made this record after returning to the Test captaincy of England. After the retirement of Ben Stokes, Root is once again captaining the England Test team.
Chance to overtake Sachin in the next innings
Root is now at par with Sachin Tendulkar's record. If he scores a half-century in his next innings, he will become the batsman with the most number of half-centuries in Test cricket.
Root's specialty has been that he has been adept at scoring more than 50 runs consistently along with big innings. This record of his once again shows how long and brilliant innings he has played in Test cricket.
Root and Cox put England in a strong position
After Pakistan's first innings ended at 171 runs, England tightened its grip on the match. On the second day, Root led the innings with Jordan Cox. Together they made a century partnership and took England ahead of Pakistan's score.
Cox played an innings of 73 runs, while Root scored 66 runs. After both were out, Pakistan finally got a chance to make a comeback.
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Root was given out LBW by Khurram Shahzad. Root missed the shot on the incoming ball and the ball hit the pad directly in front of the middle stump. Pakistan team got a big relief due to Root's dismissal. England's lead has reached more than 100 runs.