Joe Root makes history as first cricketer ever to achieve this monumental milestone

The 33-year-old England National Cricket Team modern-day batting great Joe Root has now officially established himself as the greatest century-maker in the history of English Test cricket as he has finally overtaken the legendary Alastair Cook. He has become the first-ever batter in the history of cricket to hit 34 centuries for England in Tests.

Root has looked class apart in the ongoing second Test of the three-match series against the Sri Lanka National Cricket Team at the Lord's Cricket Ground in London. In the first innings of the match, he played a tremendous innings and smashed 143 runs off 206 balls. He also hit 18 boundaries, before being dismissed by Milan Rathnayake in the 78th over.

However, Joe Root was not at all satisfied with his performance in the first innings and he was hungry for more runs. In the second innings as well, Root was forced to come out to bat early after the top-order failed, and once again he didn't disappoint.

The right-handed batter looked in amazing touch, played good strokes, and smashed boundaries whenever needed. It was on the second ball of the 53rd over, that Root smashed a four off Lahiru Kumara through the covers to reach a historic three-figure milestone.

As soon as he hit a ton, he became the leading century-maker for England in Test cricket history. Also, he was extremely delighted and he jumped in delight and punched the air as the Lord's crowd went "Rooooooooot" to celebrate his achievement.

Joe Root finished his innings with a score of 103 runs off 121 balls. He was dismissed by Lahiru Kumara in the 55th over and his innings helped England set a massive target of 483 runs for the Lankan Lions.

Joe Root surpasses Alastair Cook; here's the full list of records created by the batter

The perfect angle of Joe Root's record-breaking century doesn't exis- pic.twitter.com/zXeojPXpF0

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 31, 2024

Root's twin tons at Lord's was the first time in his career that he achieved this feat. Overall, he became just the fourth batter to achieve this rare feat at the iconic venue.

The 33-year-old has been in absolutely unbelievable form since 2021 as he has hit 17 centuries, which is the same number of tons he hit from his debut in 2012 to 2021 where he played 177 innings as compared to 88 innings from 2021 to 2024.

Hundreds in both innings of a Test at Lord’s:

106 & 107 - George Headley (WI) vs ENG, 1939

333 & 123 - Graham Gooch (ENG) vs IND, 1990

103 & 101* - Michael Vaughan (ENG) vs WI, 2004

143 & 103* - Joe Root (ENG) vs SL, 2024

Root also broke Alastair Cook's long-standing record to become England's top centurion in Test cricket with 34 tons to his name.

Most Test hundreds for England:

34 - Joe Root

33 - Alastair Cook

23 - Kevin Pietersen

22 - Wally Hammond

22 - Colin Cowdrey

22 - Geoffrey Boycott

22 - Ian Bell

England batters with most Test hundreds at a venue

7 - Joe Root at Lord’s

6 - Graham Gooch at Lord’s

6 - Michael Vaughan at Lord’s

Meanwhile, Root has become just the ninth batter in the history of international cricket to complete a half-century of tons. He also equaled Azhar Ali's record to become the player with joint-third-most centuries against Sri Lanka in Test cricket.

Most centuries in international cricket:

100 - Sachin Tendulkar (782 Inns)

80 - Virat Kohli (591 Inns)

71 - Ricky Ponting (668 Inns)

63 - Kumar Sangakkara (666 Inns)

62 - Jacques Kallis (617 Inns)

55 - Hashim Amla (437 Inns)

54 - Mahela Jayawardene (725 Inns)

53 - Brian Lara (521 Inns)

50 - Joe Root (455 Inns)

Most Test hundreds against Sri Lanka

9 - Sachin Tendulkar

8 -Younis Khan

6 - Azhar Ali

6 - Root