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The England National Cricket Team is hosting the Pakistan National Cricket Team for a three-match Test series. During Day 3 of the first Test match at Headingley in Leeds, the Three Lions Test captain Joe Root created history in the field after taking the catch of the Men in Green's opening batter Azan Awais.
The Three Lions have been under huge pressure as they are winless in their last three series, against Australia (loss), India (draw) and New Zealand (loss). The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) sacked Brendon McCullum from the Test head coach role following the 1-2 loss against the Kiwis at home, and Ben Stokes also retired from international cricket following the series.
Joe Root creates new record
Joe Root, after being re-appointed as Test captain, created a record after he took the catch of Azan Awais in the 3.5th over of the match. He became the player with the most catches in Test history, surpassing the record of former Australia captain Steve Smith, who has taken 218* catches in the traditional format of the game.
In the over, Archer completely deceived Azan Awais, as he bounced a ball which the batter thought he could glance on the leg-side; however, the plan was set for the very shot as they kept a leg-slip in place, and the batter got an inside edge instead, and went straight to Root at leg slip. Awais departed for 9 runs, leaving both Pakistan openers back in the pavilion.
Root now has taken 219* catches; both cricketers are active and will have a fierce competition between them. The two of the cricketers have had their rivalry in the traditional format of the game. Root had equalled Smith's record during Pakistan's first innings and surpassed the Aussie batter in the second innings.
Joe Root achieves new milestone on Day 2
The England captain also became the first captain to complete 3,000 runs in the World Test Championship (WTC) history. He achieved the record on Day 2 of the ongoing Test match as he was unbeaten on the score of 37 after rain-interrupted play, and in the second session he achieved the milestone.
Root required 42 runs at the beginning of the day to reach the record; he scored the five runs in the second session of Day 2. This is a huge milestone for the batter, with 3024* in 63 innings, with eight hundreds and 13 fifties. His highest score is 228, and he averages 50.13.
Will anyone surpass Joe Root?
Joe Root is now clear at the top of the WTC run-scoring charts for captains. Stokes, who has retired, is second on the list with 2,182 runs, followed by former Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne on 2,160. West Indies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite has 1,994 runs, while Pakistan's Babar Azam has 1,918.
In the same match, the 35-year-old missed achieving a rare milestone of a 50.00 overall international batting average by just a single run. Needing 67 runs in his innings to reach the mark, he was dismissed for 66, leaving his combined international average at 49.99.
