Root hits double ton in Multan Test

The England superstar Joe Root hit his sixth Test double hundred as he continued to punish the Pakistan bowlers on Day 4 of the first Test in Multan.

Root got to his double hundred in 305 balls, building on his maiden Test century in Pakistan.

Joe Root enjoyed a bit of luck on Thursday morning in Multan as he was dropped on 186 by Babar Azam, denying Naseem Shah an early breakthrough. Root made full use of it and pushed on to complete the second major landmark of the Test against Pakistan, India Today reports.

It was Joe Root’s sixth Test double hundred. He passed Alastair Cook in the list of English batters with the most Test double-hundreds. Root, 33, is just one behind Walter Hammond’s tally of seven double hundreds, which is the record for England in Tests.

When Joe Root went past 183 on Day 4, he also became the first England batter to score 20,000 runs in international cricket. Root became only the second active international cricketer after Virat Kohli to score as many runs across all three formats of the game.

Root became the 13th player and the first since AB de Villiers to go past 20,000 runs in international cricket.

Root has been breaking records at will in what has been a glorious patch for the England star in Test cricket. Earlier on Day 3, Root went past Alastair Cook’s tally of 12,472 runs to become England's all-time run-getter in Test cricket.

Root had headed to Pakistan after having scored just one fifty in three Tests during England’s trip to the Asian country in 2022. However, the former captain made up for it, notching up a daddy hundred, leading England’s strong response to Pakistan’s mammoth total of 556 in the first innings.

Root has gone past 1000 runs in a calendar year for the fifth time in his career. The England batter triggered hopes of him going to break Sachin Tendulkar’s all-time Test record of 15,921 runs. England captain Ben Stokes and former captain, Cook, backed Cook to go past Tendulkar’s Himalayan tally, highlighting his never-ending hunger for scoring big in the longest format of the game.