Joe Root breaks Sachin Tendulkar's long-standing Test record

BIRMINGHAM: England batter Joe Root broke Sachin Tendulkar's long-standing record for the most half-centuries in Test cricket during the third and final Test against Pakistan at Edgbaston on Saturday.

Root struck a match-winning 62 off 69 deliveries, hitting eight boundaries, as England chased down Pakistan's target of 130 to seal a 3-0 series whitewash.

The 35-year-old brought up his 69th Test half-century, moving past Tendulkar's tally of 68. Root achieved the feat in his 169th Test, while the Indian great reached his tally in 200 matches.

Most half-centuries in Test cricket

• Joe Root (England) 69* in 169 Tests
• Sachin Tendulkar (India) 68 in 200 Tests
• Shivnarine Chanderpaul (West Indies) 66 in 164 Tests
• Allan Border (Australia) 63 in 156 Tests
• Rahul Dravid (India) 63 in 164 Tests

Root also equalled former Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq for the fourth-most fifty-plus scores by a captain in Test cricket, with both players having registered 43 such scores.

Former South Africa captain Graeme Smith leads the list with 61 fifty-plus scores as captain, followed by Australia's Ricky Ponting with 54 and Allan Border with 51.

Most fifty-plus scores as Test captain

• Graeme Smith (South Africa) — 61
• Ricky Ponting (Australia) — 54
• Allan Border (Australia) — 51
• Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan) — 43
• Joe Root* (England) — 43
• Clive Lloyd (West Indies) — 41

Root is also closing in on another of Tendulkar's major Test records, the most runs in the format.

Tendulkar remains Test cricket's leading run-scorer with 15,921 runs, while Root is second on the all-time list with 14,278.

The England batter is 1,643 runs behind Tendulkar and will need to maintain his remarkable consistency to overtake the Indian legend and become the highest run-scorer in Test history.