England cricket team veteran Joe Root is in the form of his life as he brought up his 35th Test hundred against Pakistan in Multan. The batter, the best among the Fab 4 at present, has already scored 17 Test centuries in the post-COVID era while Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson and Steve Smith are no where near the England star. With this milestone in PAK vs ENG 1st Test, Root has now surpassed Gavaskar, Lara, Jayawardene and Younis Khan on the list of players with most hundreds in Tests.
Joe Root vs Virat Kohli: England batter leads the charts
Joe Root and Virat Kohli have had pretty contrasting paths since the post-COVID era. While the England batter managed to rediscover his form under the new era of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, the Indian batting maestro has struggled to score runs, often facing short stints at the crease. Just for the sake of putting it out there in numbers, Joe Root has scored 17 centuries to date since June 2020. In comparison, Virat Kohli has only managed to score two centuries in the same period.
| Player | Matches | Runs | 100s |
| Joe Root | 146 | 12402 | 35 |
| Virat Kohli | 115 | 8947 | 29 |
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Overall, Virat Kohli has 29 hundreds to his name as opposed to Root’s 35. The last time the Indian reached the triple-figure mark was in 2023 against the West Indies. The only other century that he scored came against Australia at home. There was nearly a 3-year gap between 2020-23 when Kohli failed to get to the triple-figure mark on even one occasion.
Virat Kohli would have to follow Joe Root’s footsteps to rediscover his form in Tests under the new era of Gautam Gambhir as coach. It is imperative of the Indian batting maestro to break free from the shackles of poor form, given India’s hectic Test schedule ahead and the complicated chance for the side to make it to the World Test Championship (WTC) final. Root on the other hand is already in great form and will hope to continue the same going forward.
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