Joe Root becomes fourth batter to score over 1600 Test runs in a year

On Day 3 of the ongoing second Ashes Test, Joe Root scored his 52nd half-century in Test cricket. He scored 62 runs and had a partnership of 138 runs for the third wicket with Dawid Malan. The southpaw made 80 runs and helped England reach a total of 236 runs in the first innings.

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On the third delivery of the 40th over, Root took a brace which was his 1600th run in 2021. He became the fourth batter to achieve the remarkable feat of scoring 1600 Test runs in a calendar year. Root has been in scintillating form this year.

None of the other batters come close to him in terms of runs scored this year. Rohit Sharma, who is second on this list of most runs in 2021, has made 906 runs in 11 matches. None of the English batters feature in the list, which signifies that it has been a one-man show for the English team. Rory Burns is the second English player with 496 runs to his name in ten matches.

Root has made 1606 runs in 14 matches at an average of 64.24, including six centuries and three half-centuries. His highest score this year is 228 runs which came against Sri Lanka in January 2021. 

Joe Root is the first player to score over 1600 runs in a calendar year since Graeme Smith in 2008. Smith made 1656 runs in 2008. In 1976, Vivian Richards made 1710 runs in 11 Test matches, and it remained the highest runs scored in a calendar year for 30 years before Mohammad Yousuf made 1788 runs in 11 games at an average of 62.64 in 2006. Root has a golden opportunity to break Yousuf’s record as he still has at least three innings to play this year.

The series against New Zealand was the only instance when Root failed to score the most runs for England. He had an excellent show against India in both the home as well as away series. In India, he made 368 runs in four matches. When India came to England, he made 564 runs in four games, including three centuries.