Root zooms past Ponting, Kallis and Dravid in one go

On the sidelines of England dismantling India's listless bowling to pocket session after session ran the Joe Root show where reaching his 38th Test hundred was the precursor toa bigger achievement — surpassing Ricky Ponting to become the second highest Test scorer after Sachin Tendulkar. Jacques Kallis and Rahul Dravid had been bested in the morning.

- Somshuvra Laha

This was also Root's ninth hundred against India at home —the most by a batter against an opponent in home Tests; and overall his 12th against India, also the most for any batter after toppling Steve Smith. He is now level with Kumar Sangakkara on 38 hundreds, with only Ponting (41), Kallis (45) and Tendulkar (51) ahead of him.

Note the names Root has joined. This is the pantheon of greats, the finest Test batters in the last three decades. Virat Kohli was once tipped to be here because he was the king. As was the idiosyncratic run machine named Steve Smith. So elegant was Kane Williamson when he caressed fours, it almost masked the disparity that New Zealand face every year by way of number of Tests allotted to them.

In fact, in the four-way race to cricket immortality of this era, Root was almost always mentioned last. It may have something to do with Root’s nationality, as there hasn’t been an England batter with a similar appetite for runs since Graham Gooch, and even he had retired in 1995. Or maybe it has to do with the low-key image Root maintains, keeping off T20 cricket and committing himself to playing every Test possible.