Ashes 2021: Joe Root surpasses massive Sachin Tendulkar milestone in Test cricket

England has been doing all the catching work since the start of the Ashes Test series and currently, the visitors are on the backfoot in the 2nd Ashes 2021 Test after losing early wickets in their first innings. The onus will be on skipper Joe Root and Dawid Malan to carry their bat and score big runs which the team really needs at this juncture.

While England continue their quest towards chasing down Australia's first innings total, Joe Root added yet another feather to his cap by surpassing Sachin Tendulkar in terms of most runs scored in a calender year.

Ashes 2021: Joe Root surpasses Sachin Tendulkar's record of most runs in calender year

Joe Root's record Ashes 2021 started with him breaking the record of most runs scored by an England Test cricketer in a calendar year. He went on to break former skipper Michael Vaughan's record. The ongoing Pink Ball Test saw Joe Root surpass the great Sachin Tendulkar's record to climb to number five on the list. Sachin Tendulkar had scored 1562 runs, back in 2010. Root also surpassed former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting, who had scored 1544 runs in 2005.

The list is led by former Pakistan cricketer Mohammad Yousuf (1788 runs in 2006), followed by West Indies great Viv Richards (1710 runs in 1976), former South Africa skipper Graeme Smith (1656 runs in 2008) and another Australia skipper Michael Clarke (1595 runs in 2012). The ongoing Ashes 2021 series also gives Joe Root the chance to surpass Graeme Smith's tally. In order to do that, he has to score a total of 115 runs, which will make him the skipper with the most runs in a single calendar year.

Ashes 2021: England vs Australia Day 3 live updates 

England started strongly on Day 3 of 2nd Ashes Test after losing two wickets at the end of Day 2. Michael Neser got his maiden Test wicket off his second ball of his Test career when he had Haseeb Hameed (6) caught at mid-on. Mitchell Starc had Rory Burns (4) caught in the slips off a delivery which went across the left-hander and took the shoulder of the bat. 

Earlier on Friday, Australia had declared their innings at 473-9 with Marnus Labuschagne scoring 103 runs and stand-in skipper Steve Smith scoring 93 runs before late fireworks from Australia's tailenders took them to a big total. Mitchell Starc (39 not out) and Neser (35) shared a rapid half-century stand for the 8th wicket.