Joe Root becomes only the second active cricketer to score 20,000 runs in international cricket

Veteran England batter Joe Root smashed his sixth Test double century as he continued to punish the Pakistan bowlers on Day 4 of the ongoing first Test in Multan. Root reached his double ton in 305 balls as well.

However, Joe Root got lucky on Thursday morning in Multan as he was dropped on 186 by Babar Azam, denying Naseem Shah his wicket. Root made full use of it and scored the second major landmark of the Test as well. It was Root's sixth Test double-century. He surpassed Alastair Cook in the list of England batters with the most Test double-tons. Root, 33, is just one hundred behind Walter Hammond's tally of seven double-centuries, which is the record for England in Tests as well.

Most Double Hundreds For England

1. Walter Hammond - 7
2. Joe Root - 6
3. Alastair Cook - 5
4. Leonard Hutton - 4

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When Joe Root surpassed 183 on Day 4, he also became the first England batter to hit 20,000 runs in international cricket. Root also became only the second active international player after Virat Kohli to score as many runs across formats of the game as well. However, Root became the 13th player and the first one since AB de Villiers to go past 20,000 runs in international cricket as well.

Most International Runs (Active Players)

• Virat Kohli - 27,041 runs in 535 matches
• Joe Root - 20,000 runs* in 350 matches

However, Joe Root, on Day 3, surpassed Alastair Cook's tally of 12,472 runs to become England's all-time highest run-scorer in the longer format as well. Also, Root has reached 1000 runs in a calendar year for the fifth time in his career. He also triggered hopes of him going to break the Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar's all-time Test record of 15,921 runs as well.