Joe Root surpasses Sachin Tendulkar's record as England secures 8-wicket victory over New Zealand

In the first Test against New Zealand at Hagley Oval in Christchurch, Joe Root made history by achieving the highest score ever in the fourth innings of a player's career. Surpassing Sachin Tendulkar's previous record, Root's brisk 22 runs helped England secure a victory in the series opener by eight wickets.

Root, considered as one of the likelier batters in world cricket to haul down Tendulkar’s overall scoring record in red ball cricket, continued to make records tumble in the long format of the game. Although he didn’t register too many runs at the Hagley Oval, he does now hold the distinction for most runs scored by any batter in the history of the sport while chasing a target in the format.

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transform: rotate(32deg); animation: shinerMooving 3s infinite; z-index: 1; filter: blur(1px); } @keyframes shinerMooving { 0% { left: -40px; } 100% { left: 150%; } } Top 15 buys at IPL 2025 Auction Rishabh Pant ₹ 27 Cr DC LSG Total Match 111 Total Runs 3284 Highest Score 128 runs Shreyas Iyer ₹ 26.75 Cr KKR PBKS Total Match 115 Total Runs 3127 Highest Score 96 runs Venkatesh Iyer ₹ 23.75 Cr KKR KKR Total Match 50 Total Runs 1326 Highest Score 104 runs Wickets 3 Best Bowling 2/29 Arshdeep Singh ₹ 18 Cr PBKS PBKS Total Match 65 Total Runs 29 Highest Score 10 runs Wickets 76 Best Bowling 5/32 Yuzvendra Chahal ₹ 18 Cr RR PBKS Total Match 260 Total Runs 37 Highest Score 8 runs Wickets 205 Best Bowling 5/40 Jos Buttler ₹ 15.75 Cr RR GT Total Match 107 Total Runs 3582 Highest Score 124 runs KL Rahul ₹ 14 Cr LSG DC Total Match 132 Total Runs 4683 Highest Score 132 runs Trent Boult ₹ 12.50 Cr RR MI Total Match 104 Total Runs 83 Highest Score 17 runs Wickets 121 Best Bowling 4/18 Jofra Archer ₹ 12.50 Cr MI RR Total Match 35 Total Runs 195 Highest Score 27 runs Wickets 46 Best Bowling 3/15 Josh Hazlewood ₹ 12.50 Cr RCB RCB Total Match 12 Total Runs - Highest Score - Wickets 12 Best Bowling 3/24 Mohammed Siraj ₹ 12.25 Cr RCB GT Total Match 93 Total Runs 109 Highest Score 14 runs Wickets 93 Best Bowling 4/21 Mitchell Starc ₹ 11.75 Cr KKR DC Total Match 41 Total Runs 105 Highest Score 29 runs Wickets 51 Best Bowling 4/15 Phil Salt ₹ 11.50 Cr DC RCB Total Match 21 Total Runs 653 Highest Score 89 runs Ishan Kishan ₹ 11.25 Cr MI SRH Total Match 105 Total Runs 2644 Highest Score 99 runs Wickets - Best Bowling - Jitesh Sharma ₹ 11 Cr PBKS RCB Total Match 40 Total Runs 730 Highest Score 49 runs Check Full Coverage

Root crossed Tendulkar’s mark of 1625 runs in the fourth innings, with the numbers for this particular innings paling in comparison to the rest but still showing a remarkable record for the English batter. He also surpassed Alastair Cook within the same innings, with the former English captain having ended his career just 14 runs short of Tendulkar on 1611 runs. Root currently stands at 1630 runs scored in fourth innings of Test matches.

The rest of the top five is filled out by Graeme Smith, tied with his southpaw captain counterpart Cook on 1611, and finally another southpaw in West Indian Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who scored 1580 fourth innings runs for the Windies.

Root helps ENG close out 104-run chase

England wrapped up a comfortable win over New Zealand with Root’s innings as the cherry on top, successfully taking a 1-0 lead thanks to a century from Harry Brook, who continues to impress, as well as a ten-wicket performance from Brydon Carse, who became the first English bowler to register a 10-fer overseas since 2008.

Root overtook Cook’s record of most Test runs for England earlier this year, continuing his terrific turn of form over the last few years, and entered the top five highest Test scorers in history as well. However, he still remains over 3000 runs off the mark set by Sachin Tendulkar, but is a solid candidate to overtake the Indian batter in a matter of years if he continues his pace.

The teams now head to Basin Reserve in Wellington for the second match of their three-Test series, with host Kiwis trying to keep their WTC finals aspirations alive with a victory in the series to back up their triumph on Indian shores earlier this month.

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