ICC Test Rankings: Joe Root eyes Donald Bradman's all-time record
England batter Joe Root continues to break records in Tests. After scoring successive centuries in the Lord's Test against Sri Lanka, Root has extended his lead at the ICC Men's Test Batting Rankings's pinnacle. Root now leads New Zealand's Kane Williamson by a whopping 63 points. Root now eyes an elusive record Sir Donald Bradman, who attained a career-high rating points worth 961.
Root set to break his own record
Root holds the top spot in the ICC Men's Test Batting Rankings with 922 points. Williamson (859), Daryl Mitchell (768), Steven Smith (757), Harry Brook (753), and Rohit Sharma (751) follow the England batter on this list. Notably, Root is one away from emulating his personal-best mark of 923 rating points he achieved in July 2022 with a ton against India at Edgbaston.
Root eyes this mark of Bradman
After three games, England lead the three-Test series against Sri Lanka 2-0. The Englishmen will next take on Pakistan in a three-match Test series in October. Therefore, Root will ample opportunities to match Bradman's all-time mark of 961 rating points. Notably, no other batter has touched the 950-mark in the ICC Test Batting Rankings history. Smith follows Bradman with 947 rating points.
Only batter with over 4,000 Test runs since 2021
Root has had an incredible rise over the last three years as a batter. He remains the only batter to have scored over 3,000 or 4,000 Test runs in this period. Since January 1, 2021, Root has scored 4,554 runs from 48 Tests at an astronomical average of 56.92. His tally includes 32 fifty-plus scores (17 tons).
Can Root match Sachin Tendulkar's Test record?
With over 12,000 runs, Root is already among the legends in Test cricket. He recently eclipsed Brian Lara's record of 11,953 runs. The English batter is currently the seventh-highest Test run-scorer, only behind Sachin Tendulkar (15,921), Ricky Ponting (13,378), Jacques Kallis (13,289), Rahul Dravid (13,288), Cook (12,472), and Kumar Sangakkara (12,400). At 33, Root has already set his sights on Tendulkar's long-standing record.
