PAK vs ENG: Joe Root hits 35th Test hundred to go past four legends of the game including Brian Lara

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PAK vs ENG: Joe Root on Wednesday smashed his 35th Test hundred to go past the tally of four legends of the game. The former England captain hit the landmark hundred on Day 3 of the ongoing first Test against Pakistan in Multan.

As soon as Joe Root reached his 35th Test hundred, he went past the tally of India's Sunil Gavaskar, Pakistan's Younis Khan, West Indies' Brian Lara and Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene. Each of these four greats of the game scored 34 hundred in their elusive Test cricket career.

The 33-year-old has the most hundreds in Test cricket among active cricketers. Overall, he is sixth on the list after Sachin Tendulkar (51), Jacques Kallis (45), Ricky Ponting (41), Kumar Sangakkara (38) and Rahul Dravid (36).

Most hundreds in Test cricket

• Sachin Tendulkar: 51
• Jacques Kallis: 45
• Ricky Ponting: 41
• Kumar Sangakkara: 38
• Rahul Dravid: 36
• Joe Root: 35

At the start of 2021, Virat Kohli had 27 hundreds, Steve Smith 26 and Kane Williamson 23. Four years later, Joe Root has 35 Test hundreds, Kohli 29, Smith 32 and Williamson also 32 hundreds.

In the innings, Joe Root also went past Alastair Cook to become England's leading run-scorer in Test cricket. Cook scored 12472 runs in 161 matches. Root went past his tally in his 147th Test match.

Only Sachin Tendulkar (15921), Ricky Ponting (13378), Jacques Kallis (13289) and Rahul Dravid (13288). Many greats of the game including former England captain Michael Vaughan have claimed that Root has all the chances in the world to break Tendulkar's record for most Test runs.

"Joe's love of the game means he will not be like Alastair Cook, who he overtakes into top spot. Cook retired six years ago, at almost exactly the same age - 33 - that Joe is now. But I see Joe going into his forties, like Anderson has. There is still plenty for him to tick off, including that missing hundred in Australia. But I watch him bat in Australia and do not see a major technical problem, he just has not cracked three figures yet," Michael Vaughan wrote in a column for the Telegraph shortly after Root went past Cook.

"Root is already cricketing royalty and there is no doubt in my eyes that he has become England's greatest batsman already. No one has played the different forms of the game better than him, and he has got the runs to show for it. If he plays as long as I am sure he will, he will overtake Sachin Tendulkar and be the leading Test run-scorer. More than just being a great player, he does it all with a smile on his face, and is simply the greatest example for young kids to follow," he added.