Joe Root Equals Ricky Ponting's Elite Milestone, Continues To Shatter Records In Test Cricket

Joe Root has continued to scale new heights in Test cricket. The England star smashed his second Test hundred on Australian soil as England were bundled out for 384 runs in the first innings at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Joe Root Levels With Ricky Ponting With 2nd Hundred On Australian Soil

Root has now surpassed Kumar Sangakkara and has equalled Ricky Ponting's century haul in the long format. The 35-year-old now has 41 Test centuries in his tally and needs five more to get past Jacques Kallis on this elite list. Sachin Tendulkar continues to lead the list with 51 Test hundreds, the most by a batter.

Root has also reduced the gap with Sachin in the run-scoring list and has almost breached the 14000 run mark. He has amassed 13937 runs at an average of 51.23 in 163 Test matches so far.  Root also went past Sri Lankan great Mahela Jayawardene (16) to become the fifth batter with the most 150-plus scores in Tests. Ahead of Root is Australian legend Don Bradman (18), Sri Lankan great Kumar Sangakkara (19), West Indies legend Brian Lara (19) and Indian ace Sachin Tendulkar (20).

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England Lost Momentum Despite Joe Root Masterclass

Despite ending the first day strongly, England lost the momentum and lost Harry Brook and Ben Stokes pretty quickly. Stokes was dismissed for a duck by Mitchell Starc as England stared at another collapse. Root came to his team's rescue again as he struck two valuable partnerships with Jamie Smith and Will Jacks, respectively, to steady the ship.

Mitchell Starc (2/93), Michael Neser (4/60) and Scott Boland (2/85) shared eight wickets among them. Travis Head and Mafrnus Labuschagne took control, and Australia are heading towards a huge score as it stands.

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