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England National Cricket Team's Test captain Joe Root surpasses Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar in the longest format of the game. Root broke Sachin's record during the third Test match against Pakistan in Birmingham.
On Day 4 of the match, Joe Root scored his 69th half-century while chasing the final target of the match and the three-match series. With the latest half-century, the England skipper officially broke the Indian legend's record, who concluded his Test career with 68 half-centuries.
Joe Root snatches Sachin Tendulkar's record of scoring the most Test half-centuries.
West Indies cricket legend Shivnarayan Chanderpaul is now third in the list with 66 fifties, and Allan Border, with 63 half-centuries, ranked fourth in the list. Another former India batter, Rahul Dravid, is at the fifth position with sixty-three 50s, while the former Australia captain Ricky Ponting smashed 62 half-centuries in his Test career. After almost a decade, someone crossed Sachin Tendulkar's record of Test half-centuries.
Most fifties in Tests
69* - Joe Root (England)
68 - Sachin Tendulkar (India)
66 - S Chanderpaul (West Indies)
63 - Allan Border (Australia)
63 - Rahul Dravid (India)
62 - Ricky Ponting (Australia)
Joe Root is chasing Sachin Tendulkar's 15,921 runs in Tests
After the retirement of Virat Kohli, England's Joe Root remains the only active batter in his generation who is still behind some of the records set by Sachin Tendulkar. While Root is nearing Tendulkar's 15,000 runs in Test cricket, he broke the legendary cricketer's record for scoring the most half-centuries in Test cricket.
In 200 Test matches, Sachin Tendulkar scored 15,921 runs, and Root is well over 14,000 runs right now. Root is now 35 and in good shape, so it is expected to see the middle-order batter playing some more years for the England National Cricket Team in the future.
In this summer at home, Root has played 6 matches and 11 innings as a batter for England and scored 335 runs with three half-centuries, including a highest score of 77 and an average of 33.5.
Root's home summer 2026
Tests: 6
Inngs: 11
Runs: 335
Avg: 33.5
100s/50s: 0/3
HS: 77
Joe Root and Jordan Cox score half-centuries to whitewash Pakistan in Test series
Root's half-century came at a time when, probably for the first time, the Pakistan bowlers looked threatening against the home team in the entire series. In the very first over of the run chase in the second innings, Mohammad Abbas took the wickets of both of the England openers.
Ben Duckett and Emilio Gay both returned with ducks. England was 2 for 2 when Root and Jordan Cox started the rescue process. The target was not massive, but England needed to recover from two early blows.
Cox and Root both scored their half-centuries to secure the win. England won the third of the Three-match Test series by 3-0; Pakistan suffered a whitewash. According to Cricbuzz stats, this is the second time the England cricket team has clean-swept Pakistan in a 3-match Test series, after the 2022-23 season.
