Continuing their rampant run against Pakistan, England scripted a new world record on Day 4 of the Multan Test. The country’s top-scoring Test batter Joe Root orchestrated a 454-run partnership with Harry Brook on Thursday, earning the cricket world a never-seen-before record. It was the first time in Test cricket history, since the start of the format in 1877, that two batters put 450 runs on the board as a pair for the 4th wicket. The previous best was 449 by Adam Voges and Saun Marsh of Australia. They had accumulated the score against West Indies in Hobart back in 2015. 

The 454-run partnership by Brook and Root is also the highest ever for a pair in Test cricket away from home, for any wicket. The previous best was 451 by Australia against England at the Oval in 1934. Root and Brook also registered the highest partnership against Pakistan, for any team at any wicket, in the process. 

Overall, however, the record for highest partnership in Test cricket is held with Mahela Jayawarden and Kumar Sangakkara, who had put together a 624-run stand against South Africa in 2006.

Highest Partnerships In Test Cricket History:

624 – M Jayawardene & K Sangakkara (SL) vs SA, Colombo, 2006

576 – S Jayasuriya & R Mahanama (SL) vs IND, Colombo, 1997

467 – Martin Crowe, Andrew Jones (NZ) vs SL, Wellington, 1999

454 – Joe Root & Harry Brook (ENG) vs PAK, Multan, 2024

Root looked set to be threatening Brian Lara’s 400-run total but the England great was dismissed shortly after he and Brook smashed the world record score for the 4th wicket. Root was dismissed for 262 by Agha Salman but his dismissal failed to bring England’s rampant run to a halt in the match.

Earlier on Wednesday, Root achieved a major career milestone by surpassing Cook to become England’s all-time leading Test run-scorer.

Speaking in a video by England Cricket on their official X handle, Root said, “I am obviously proud, but still feel there’s plenty more left to do, plenty of runs to get.”

“I am sure I will look back at it when I am finished and be very proud of it, but I think more than anything just the way we played today as a team is what stands out.”

“We have still got an opportunity to win the game, which is really exciting. Hopefully we can kick on tomorrow,” he concluded.

In 350 international matches, Root has accumulated over 20,000 runs in his career, with 51 centuries and 108 half-centuries.

Root’s record-breaking day saw him surpass Cook not only as England’s highest run-scorer in Test cricket, but also as the fifth-highest run-scorer in the history of the format.

Root has now overtaken cricketing greats like Younis Khan, Sunil Gavaskar, Brian Lara, and Mahela Jayawardene, who each had 34 Test centuries, to become the sixth-highest century-maker in Test history.

The all-time leading run-scorer and century-maker in Test cricket is Indian icon Sachin Tendulkar, with 15,921 runs in 200 Tests and 51 centuries. Root is steadily closing in on Tendulkar’s record.

With ANI Inputs