Ashes 2021: Joe Root breaks yet another record, goes past Graeme Smith in elite list

Day 1 of the third Test match of Australia vs England, the Ashes 2021-22 series ended with Australia scoring 61/1 after 16 overs of play in their first innings, after dismissing the England batting line-up on the total score of 185 runs. England skipper Joe Root scored the maximum runs for his team by hitting a knock of 50 runs of 82 balls, before getting caught by wicketkeeper Alex Cary, off a delivery from Mitchell Starc. However, Joe Root also made headlines on the first day of the Melbourne Test by surpassing the legendary former South African skipper Graeme Smith in an elite list of records.

Root surpassed the former Proteas skipper in the list of cricketers with the most Test runs scored in a calendar year. Having scored a total of 1680 Test runs for England in 2021, Root went past Smith, who had scored a grand total of 1656 runs as the South African skipper in 2008. Root’s tally of runs also stands third in the list of runs scored by a player in a calendar year, as he finds himself behind Pakistan’s Mohammad Yousuf and former legendary West Indies skipper Sir Vivian Richards. Yousuf had scored a total of 1788 runs in 2006, while Sir Richards scored 1710 runs in 1976.

Joe Root has scored the most Test runs in 2021-

At the same time, Joe Root currently tops the list of cricketers with the most Test runs scored in 2021, courtesy of his tally of 1680 runs, ahead of players like Rohit Sharma, Dimuth Karunaratne, and Rishabh Pant. Root stands at the top of the chart having scored 1680 runs at an average of 62.22 and a strike rate of 57.04, with the help of six centuries and four half-centuries.

What followed after Joe Root's dismissal on Day 1 of the Melbourne Test?

Meanwhile, following the dismissal of Root on Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test at MCG, England was bowled out on the score of 185 runs by the Aussie bowlers. Alongside Root, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes contributed with 35 and 25 runs respectively for England, while Aussie skipper Pat Cummins finished the innings with the best effort of 3/36 in 15 overs. Off-spinner Nathan Lyon also returned with 3/36 in 14.1 overs, while Starc dismissed two English batters. Debutant Scott Boland and Cameron Green also contributed with one wicket each, before Australia ended the day on 61/1.

(Image: AP)