India vs England, 1st Test: Joe Root surpasses Alastiar Cook in elite record

Joe Root surpassed Alastair Cook to become England's highest run-scorer in international cricket on Wednesday.

Root achieved the milestone on Day 1 of the ongoing first Test between India and England at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. Root, who came out to bat at No. 4 on Wednesday, was 22 runs away from Cook's tally of 15,737 runs. Root, who replaced Cook as England captain in 2017, has scored 36 centuries and 89 half-centuries, in Tests, One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) combined, at an average of 48.65. He has a better average, overall, than Cook (42.88) and reached the feat in 366 innings in comparison to the southpaw's tally of 387.

The other cricketers who follow Root and Cook in the list of highest run-getters across formats for England are: Kevin Pietersen (13,779 runs), Ian Bell (13,331 runs), Graham Gooch (13,190 runs) and Alec Stewart (13,140 runs). David Gower, Andrew Strauss, Marcus Trescothick and Eoin Morgan complete the top 10 of the list.

Root, who registered his 50th half-century in Test cricket on Wednesday, is England third highest run scorer in the longest format of the game after Cook (12,472) and Gooch (8,900).

Among active cricketers, India captain Virat Kohli is the leading run-scorer in international cricket, across formats, with 22,875 runs at an average of 55.65 and his English counterpart is in second place.

Overall, Root is 29th in the list of highest run-getters across formats among batsmen of all countries. Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar leads the group, with a tally of 34,357 runs, followed by Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara (28,016), Australia's Ricky Ponting (27,483), Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardena (25,957), and South Africa's Jacques Kallis (25,534).

Root, who made his England debut in 2012, has established himself as one of their greats over the years. Having led in 53* Tests, Root has claimed 26 wins, 19 loses and seven draws.

Ahead of the first Test of the English summer, Root had said he was excited to face India in a big series, which is both side's first assignment of the 2021-23 World Test Championship (WTC) Cycle.

After winning the toss, Root said," It looks like a reasonable wicket, a little bit of movement. If we get off to a good start in the first hour, we could capitalize. Always exciting to play a big series like this. And hopefully we could perform really well. Jonny Bairstow comes back, Sam Curram comes in as well. It has been so long since we last played. Jack Leach unfortunately misses out; a very tough decision. You've got to pick the best team to pick 20 wickets. As you progress as a Test player, there comes the responsibility and there is an opportunity for the guys to take what Ben Stokes has left in his absence."