When Sunil Gavaskar cut Pakistan’s Ijaz Fakih down to third man at the old Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad in March 1987, he scaled a batting peak that few had even imagined climbing in more than 100 years of Test cricket and scoring the most runs in test cricket. Before Gavaskar, India’s original Little Master, no one had even made 9,000 Test runs. That late cut took him to 10,000, a journey that had taken him 15 years and 363 days. 

At Lord’s, England’s Joe Root (one of the fantasy cricket favorites everytime he plays) became the 14^th man to go past the 10,000 Test-runs barrier. It took him 218 innings to get there, 6 more than Gavaskar had needed all those years ago. But it’s also a measure of how much Test cricket England play compared to other teams that it took Root only 9 years and 171 days to get to the landmark. 

Root, along with Alastair Cook, his former captain, is also the joint-youngest to get to the milestone, at 31 years and 157 days. Sachin Tendulkar, who sits miles ahead of the rest on 15,921 runs, was 31 years and 326 days old when he crossed 10,000 runs. But Tendulkar, West Indies’ Brian Lara and Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara all needed just 195 innings to get there. 

The first Test against New Zealand Team was Root’s first after resigning the captaincy following a disastrous run of just 1 win in 17 Test matches. Under the leadership of Ben Stokes, he struck his 26^th Test hundred in the second innings to lead England to a remarkable 5-wicket victory. It continued a quite remarkable run of form for the Yorkshire batter, whose batting has been quite sensational even as the team has struggled. 

In 2021, Root made 1,708 runs, which included 6 centuries from 15 Tests. The hundred at Lord’s was his 3^rd of 2022, marking quite a comeback from the lows of 2020, when he failed to make a century. Given the current schedules and talk of eventually expanding the Indian T20 League season, Root could possibly be the last batter to have any chance of overhauling Tendulkar’s incredible run aggregate. 

The select group of 14 players (most runs in test cricket) includes 3 Indians, with Rahul Dravid still in 4^th place on 13,288 runs. There are 3 Australians – Allan Border, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting – and like England, West Indies and Sri Lanka Team also have 2 batters each in the select club. Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, chalk and cheese in terms of style, represent the West Indies on the list, while Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, both now coaches in the Indian T20 League, fly the Lankan flag. 

Jacques Kallis, the legendary all-rounder, is the only South African, while Younis Khan of Pakistan is the 6^th Asian on the list. Despite the talk of Test cricket dying in the 21^st century, the list is full of batters who made their debuts after 1990. 

When the great Sir Donald Bradman retired in 1948, just 4 runs short of 7,000, only 1 man had reached that milestone – England’s Walter Hammond. It would take more than 25 years for Sir Garfield Sobers of the West Indies Team to go past the 8,000-run mark in 1974. Gavaskar took the record past 9,000 and well beyond, but in the 35 years since, the landmark has been reached by a succession of brilliant batters. 

There was a time when Root was seen as part of a quartet of batters who could threaten Tendulkar’s record. But he has played far more Test cricket than India’s Virat Kohli, Australia’s Steve Smith and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson. The first two have just crossed 8,000 runs, while Williamson is on 7,289. With all 3 well into their 30s, it’s safe to say they’ll be no threat to Tendulkar’s record. 

Even Root will have to continue scoring at a prolific rate for the next 60 Tests he plays to get close. What is almost certain though is that he will eventually break Cook’s record of 12,472 runs, most runs in test cricket by a batter for England Team. 

Most Runs in Test Cricket

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