Joe Root Beats Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting To Become Fastest to 13,000 Test Runs

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Joe Root added another major milestone to his illustrious Test career on Thursday as he became the fastest player in history to reach 13,000 runs in the format. The England batting maestro achieved the feat during the one-off Test against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge, Nottingham.

Needing just 28 runs to reach the landmark, Root got there in style by nudging a single off Victor Nyauchi in the 80th over of England's innings.

This marked Root's 153rd appearance in Test cricket, putting him ahead of legends like Jacques Kallis (159 Tests), Rahul Dravid (160), Ricky Ponting (162), and Sachin Tendulkar (163) in terms of speed to the milestone.

With this achievement, Root also became the first English cricketer to breach the 13,000-run barrier in Test cricket, and only the fifth overall in history to do so. Root, who debuted in 2012 against India, has cemented his place among the all-time greats in red-ball cricket with his consistency and prolific run-scoring across the globe.

Root's numbers against top teams further underline his dominance-he has over 2,000 runs each against India and Australia and more than 1,000 runs versus New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies.

As for the match situation, England ended Day 1 on a commanding 498/3 in just 88 overs. The top order flourished with three centurions: Ollie Pope unbeaten on 169, Ben Duckett scoring 140, and Zak Crawley contributing 124. Harry Brook joined Pope at the crease and was not out on 9 at stumps.

Root's landmark and England's batting dominance set the tone for what could be a high-scoring affair, with records tumbling on a memorable day at Trent Bridge.