Joe Root scripted his name in the history of Test cricket during England’s one-off Test match against Zimbabwe today (May 22) at the Trent Bridge in Nottingham. Root became the fifth cricketer in history to complete 13,000 Test runs.

 Joe Root, considered one of the best batters in the modern era of cricket, was only 28 runs away from the milestone. On the first ball of the 80^th over against Zimbabwe, by taking a single, Victor Nyauchi was the bowler at that time. Along with claiming the 13,000^th Test run, Root broke former South Africa all-rounder Jacques Kallis’ record, who made this number of runs playing only 159 matches, which was the fastest so far.

Root took only 153 matches to find himself at the top of the list. Though, in terms of total innings, the Englishman is the slowest one to reach the landmark. The star cricketer’s 13K Test runs came during his 279^th innings in the white. Legendary Sachin Tendulkar is still top of the list, having scored 13 thousand runs in 266 innings.

Read More: WATCH: Rishabh Pant plays trademark flick six against Gujarat Titans in IPL 2025

Overall, Joe Root is the first England cricketer to score 13,000 Test runs and the 5th in the international circuit to achieve this incredible feat. The right-hander made his Test debut on December 13, 2012, against India in Nagpur. Since then, Root has claimed a truck full of runs throughout his decorating career. He enjoyed most of his time against Australia, India, and New Zealand. In more than 2,000 Test runs, he scored against Australia and India, and over 1,000 runs came against New Zealand.

🚨 1️⃣ 3️⃣, 0️⃣ 0️⃣ 0️⃣ 🚨

Enough said. pic.twitter.com/wYdaIAiVhm

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) May 22, 2025

Batters who have scored 13,000 Test runs so far:

1) Sachin Tendulkar (India)- 266 innings

2) Jacques Kallis (South Africa)- 269 innings

3) Ricky Ponting (Australia)- 275 innings

4) Rahul Dravid (India)- 277 innings

5) Joe Root (England)- 279* innings