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Is Joe Root The New King Of Test Batting? Ex-RCB Player Says He’s Surpassed Kohli

Kaushik Kashyap

Virat Kohli and Joe Root. [Source - @Johns/x.com]Virat Kohli and Joe Root. [Source - @Johns/x.com]

In the last five years, Joe Root has transformed into a colossus in Test cricket. From a technically gifted batter to a run-machine across conditions, Root’s red-ball dominance has redefined modern Test batting. But the question remains, is he better than Virat Kohli, widely considered the gold standard of all-format greatness? Kohli’s former RCB teammate had shed light on it.

Kohli Rules All Formats, But Root Owns Test Cricket - Murali Kartik

While Kohli’s stature as the ultimate all-format icon remains unchallenged, Root’s recent run in Test cricket alone have sparked fresh comparisons. His consistency, hunger, and ability to score truckloads of runs under any circumstance have elevated him into a league of his own.

Root’s 38th Test century in the ongoing Manchester Test against India on Friday was a powerful reminder of his supreme form and consistency in recent years. Calm under pressure and fluent across strokes, the innings highlighted his unmatched red-ball expertise. 

While reviewing Day 3 on Cricbuzz, commentator and former RCB teammate of Virat Kohli, Murali Karthik, hailed Joe Root as the best in Test cricket today, placing him above all contemporaries for his consistency, hunger, and ability to score runs everywhere.

“If you talk about all format batters, there is only one name that is Virat Kohli. But if you talk only about Test cricket, in this decade, I do not think anyone is ahead of Joe Root. He goes and bats in any condition,” Kartik said.

Evidently, Root’s last five years’ numbers back the sentiment. Since the post-COVID restart in 2020, Joe Root is the highest run-scorer in Test cricket with 5,810 runs at an average of 55.33, including 21 centuries. No other batter has even reached 4,000 runs or crossed 10 centuries in that period.

And now, he has also surpassed Australian legend Ricky Ponting in the ongoing Manchester Test to become the second-highest run-scorer in Test history, trailing only the immortal Sachin Tendulkar. With 13,409 Test runs and counting, Root is now chasing Tendulkar’s all-time record of 15,921 runs, just over 2,500 runs away from rewriting cricket’s greatest batting milestone.