Joe Root notched up his 39th Test hundred, off 137 balls, during the fourth day of the fifth and final Test between England and India at the Oval on Sunday to become the fourth-highest century-maker in the history of the format.
Root surpassed Kumar Sangakkara’s tally of 38 tons, and is now only behind Sachin Tendulkar (51), Jacques Kallis (45) and Ricky Ponting (41) as far as Test hundreds are concerned.
During his knock on Sunday, Root also became the first batter to register 6,000 runs in World Test Championship (WTC) history.
The former England skipper, who has over 13,500 runs under his belt, is currently the second-highest run scorer in Test history and has set his sights on Sachin Tendulkar’s record tally of 15,921 runs.
Most centuries in Test matches
- Sachin Tendulkar – 51 centuries in 329 innings
- Jacques Kallis – 45 centuries in 280 innings
- Ricky Ponting – 41 centuries in 287 innings
- Joe Root – 39 centuries in 288 innings
- Kumar Sangakkara – 38 centuries in 233 innings
