England’s star batter Joe Root completed his 36th Test hundred on Day 3 of the 2nd Test vs New Zealand in Wellington. Root equalled Rahul Dravid’s tally of 36 hundreds in Test cricket and stands at 5th position in the all-time list for centuries. Root opted for a cheeky and bazballing way to bring up his hundred in England’s 2nd innings. It was a signature, yet adventurous style as Root went for a reverse-scoop. The 33-year-old was battin at 98 when he played a daring ramp shot. William O’Rourke’s delivery went off flying over wicketkeeper Tom Blundell’s head for a boundary.
Root becomes the first batter of his generation to reach the triple figure mark, overtaking Dravid who did so on 99 occasions. Now ahead of Root are only Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting, who crossed 50 on 103 occasions each, and Sachin Tendulkar, who did so 119 times, including 51 centuries.
Root’s phenomenal form in this decade continues, having scored 18 centuries since the start of 2020 in a period that has seen him establish himself as the finest Test batter in the world at the moment. Root has also set a host of other records in 2024, including becoming England’s highest Test run-scorer and notching up the centuries as he grows closer and closer in stats and status to some of the greats of the game in terms of his production.
Root’s stats are bolstered by the fact that an early-career criticism of the English batter was his poor conversion rate, with his number of 50s not translating to big scores, a problem he has found the solution to in the recent past. Root has evolved into a consistent scorer of big runs, meaning he stays well ahead of players such as Steven Smith (42 half-centuries and 31 centuries) and Virat Kohli (31 half-centuries and 30 centuries) in this particular category, as well in the run-scoring lists, as he sprints towards the 13,000-run mark in the format.
