England’s Joe Root went past legendary batters like West Indies’ Gary Sobers and Vivian Richards and Australia’s Ricky Ponting and Steve Smith to become the first player in cricket history to hit 10 Test hundreds against India.
The feat was achieved at the Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) Stadium in Ranchi on Friday, February 23rd when Root hit his first hundred of the five-match series against India during the first innings of the fourth Test.
Root in Elite List
With the century in Ranchi, his third in India in 27 innings, Root joined the list of great players such as Don Bradman, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Jack Hobbs and Kumar Sangakkara, Steve Waugh and Sobers as players with 10 or more centuries against one country in Tests.
Player
Versus
Span
Mat
Inns
Runs
Ave
SR
100
50
DG Bradman (AUS)
England
1928-1948
37
63
5028
89.78
58.06
19
12
SM Gavaskar (IND)
West Indies
1971-1983
27
48
2749
65.45
54.27
13
7
SPD Smith (AUS)
England
2010-2023
37
66
3417
56.01
54.75
12
13
JB Hobbs (ENG)
Australia
1908-1930
41
71
3636
54.26
46.22
12
15
SR Tendulkar (IND)
Australia
1991-2013
39
74
3630
55
59.41
11
16
KC Sangakkara (SL)
Pakistan
2002-2015
23
45
2911
74.64
54.6
10
12
JE Root (ENG)
India
2012-2024
29*
52
2725
59.23
55.01
10
10
Root’s three hundreds keep him only behind Alastair Cook among English batters with the most Test centuries in India. He has joined Andrew Strauss and Ken Barrington as English batters with three tons in India.
Joe Root also reached the milestone of 19,000 international across formats with an unbeaten century. Root, who has 11.615 runs in Tests, 6,522 in ODIs and 893 in T20Is, has amassed a total of 19,030 runs across all three formats in 443 innings.
This makes him the second-highest run-scorer among active cricketers, behind India’s Virat Kohli. Among the English batters with the most runs, he is miles ahead of anyone else with the second highest being Alastair Cook, who has aggregated 15,737 runs in 387 innings.