England are in a vulnerable situation on the Day 3 of the second Ashes Test as Australia try to stamp their authority on the contest. While England struggle to keep pace against the Australian bowling attack, Joe Root has continued his sensational 2021 as he has surpassed 1600 runs in the calendar year. With this feat he has overtaken Sachin Tendulkar and Michael Clarke in the list for most Test runs in a year.
Before the start of the match Root had 1544 runs in 2021, level with Ricky Ponting. The English captain went on to score 62 runs in his first innings which has took him to 1606 runs in total. He went past Tendulkar’s tally of 1562 runs, which was set in 2010, while he also left behind former Australia captain Michael Clarke who had 1595 runs in 2012.
Root still has the opportunity to claim the all time record of 1788 runs set by Pakistan’s Mohammad Yousuf in 2006. Currently the Englishman lies fourth in the standings with Graeme Smith and Sir Viv Richards ahead of him. Richards scored 1710 runs which was set in 1976 while Smith has 1656 runs which he scored in 2008. The 30-year old Root needs just 183 runs to go past Yousuf’s tally and still has an innings in the Adelaide Test and couple of innings in the Melbourne Test.
In terms of innings, the England captain took 14 innings to achieve the 1600-run mark. While the likes of Yousuf and Richards took mere 11 innings to be part of the coveted club. England currently trail Australia 1-0 in the Ashes, while Roots' army try to fight their way back in the five match series.
