England’s star batter Joe Root has passed Alastair Cook to become the leading run-getter for England in Test cricket moving to 12,473 runs on the third day of the first Test against Pakistan at Multan Cricket Stadium on Wednesday. Root began the day on 32 in reply to Pakistan’s mammoth first-innings 556, needing just 39 to move past England legend Cook (12472 runs) and into fifth place on the all-time Test list. He got forward and played a delightful on-drive that raced away to the boundary to reach the milestone.

The right-hander achieved the feat in just 147 Tests and 268 innings, compared with Cook’s final tallies of 161 Tests and 291 innings.

Only Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, South African Jacques Kallis and Rahul Dravid lie ahead of Root in the list if most runs in Test cricket.

Earlier, Root went past Cook on century count, smashing his 33rd and 34th Test hundreds during Lord’s Test against Sri Lanka in August, becoming the England player with the most hundreds in Test cricket.

At lunch, Root stands 72 not out, stitching 119 stand with Ben Duckett ( 80 not out) as England are 232 for two from just 45 overs, made at a run rate above five.

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