Record-breaker Joe Root’s unbeaten 176 powers England back into first Test as visitors end third day trailing Pakistan by just 64 runs

With 12 minutes to go before lunch on the third day of the first Test, Joe Root punched Aamer Jamal down the ground – and knew the record was his.

As ball hit boundary, Root was crowned England’s greatest Test run-scorer of all time, passing Alastair Cook’s tally of 12,472, and leaving only Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis and Rahul Dravid ahead. Even in Multan’s cauldron, he was breathing rarefied air.

Root’s celebrations were muted, partly because that’s his way, partly because the heat had all but sapped him of the strength to raise his bat.

But he dealt with all that too, fighting off cramp and exhaustion to complete his 35th Test century, and reach stumps on 176. England were 492 for three, only 64 behind Pakistan’s apparently monstrous 556. Of the 101 overs they had faced, only one was a maiden.

There were runs, too, for Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, dropping to No 4 after dislocating his thumb on the second evening. But Root’s most significant alliance came with his fellow Yorkshireman Harry Brook, who completed his fourth century in four Tests in Pakistan, and contributed 141 high-class runs to a fourth-wicket stand of 243.

Root became England’s highest ever Test run scorer after surpassing Alastair Cook (left) on Wednesday morning

The former skipper ended the day on 176 not out – his highest score in Pakistan in his career

Brook may one day pass Root, though history shows the baton is not relinquished often. Since Geoff Boycott overhauled Colin Cowdrey in 1980-81, England’s record has changed hands just four times: from Boycott to David Gower in 1992, from Gower to Graham Gooch a year later, from Gooch to Cook in 2015, and now from Cook to Root.

Only the greats get to enter the conversation. And we are indisputably witnessing greatness. Since the start of 2021, Root has scored 18 Test hundreds – twice as many as his nearest rival, New Zealand’s Kane Williamson. In that time, he has scored 4,755 runs, more than 2,000 clear of the pack, and averaged 58.

Even taking into account England’s unstinting Test schedule, this represents one of batting’s greatest purple patches. He even had the nerve to face a delivery from spinner Abrar Ahmed as a left-hander. A dot ball from the sweep was possibly his only mistimed stroke of the day.

Root will be 34 in December, and won’t be drawn on his likely departure from the game. But while he is approaching Mt Rushmore territory, many will be urging him to conquer Everest: his pursuit of Tendulkar’s world-record 15,921 will form the backdrop to the rest of his career.

At his current rate of progress, and assuming he remains injury-free, Root could pass Tendulkar some time in late 2027. Given the steady demise of the Test format, that record might never be beaten. It is a tribute to Root’s consistency that the scenario can even be contemplated.

For the moment, though, the 50 or so England fans who braved the dry heat were happy to enjoy their team’s progress in the here and now.

The pitch, it should be said, has failed hopelessly to live up to its pre-match billing, when Jason Gillespie and Shan Masood – Pakistan’s coach and captain – spoke of the need to keep bowlers as interested as batsmen.

When three helicopters passed over the ground an hour after lunch in what was said to be a routine military operation, no one could rule out the possibility that they were searching for groundsman Tony Hemming.

But England had a game to save, and – thanks to their phenomenal rate of scoring – possibly even to win. A few hours of Crawley would have increased their chances, but he could add only 14 to his overnight 64 before clipping Shaheen Shah Afridi to midwicket, where Aamer Jamal held on at the second attempt.

Dismissed for the sixth time in the 70s since his last Test hundred, against Australia at Old Trafford two summers ago, he had batted dreamily – until he didn’t. It’s what Crawley does.

At 113 for two, plenty of work remained, but Duckett – showing no ill-effects from the blow to his left thumb – was straight into his impish stride. Like Crawley, though, he keeps faltering in sight of three figures: when Jamal went round the wicket soon after lunch, he pinned him leg-before for 84 off just 75 balls, ending a stand of 136 in 25 overs. England still trailed by 307.

Root had passed Cook by now, and settled down in the company of Brook, who had played himself back into form at the end of the English summer during the one-day series against Australia, and did with the bowling as he pleased.

He enjoyed a slice of luck on 75 when he defended a ball from Jamal into the ground, only for it to bounce up on to his chin, then back down. Dribbling against the stumps, it did so without the force to dislodge a bail. Otherwise, his sixth Test hundred, from just 118 balls, felt inevitable against a tiring attack.

But this was all about Root, who came close to falling lbw to Naseem Shah on 168, but offered barely another sniff. He has been on the field for all but eight balls of this Test match, and shown the endurance of a man a decade younger.

And it really has felt like Root’s decade. Between walking out to bat on his debut against India at Nagpur in 2012-13 and the boundary that took him past Cook, he had spent 32,489 minutes at the crease – or 541 hours, or 22.5 days.

Whichever way you slice them, the numbers boggle the mind. And they will grow more mind-boggling still.