During the planned tea break at 3:40 PM, Joe Root ascended the 34 steps leading to the Old Trafford pavilion, mostly taking two at a time. He glided easily, head down, helmet in hand. Not rushed, but purposeful. Dealing with the stairway this week hasn’t been the easiest. Jasprit Bumrah rolled his ankle on them; ask him. Ask Ben Stokes or Rishabh Pant, who both had cramps and fractures and fought their way up them while holding to the rail.
Root, however, did not falter. He just shimmied up them, and as he ascended, the audience cheered him on. When he reached the top, he quietly punctuated a statement innings by placing his gloves and helmet at the entryway before vanishing into the dressing room. This served as a reminder that there was more to come.
Root’s ascent was not limited to the stairs. It was an ascent into the highest-ranking run-scoring organization in cricket. He has passed tall steps in the game’s pedigree on his path to the top. Root started the day as the fifth-highest run scorer in Test cricket. He came in second.
At 11:28 AM, the ascent started in silence. He mentioned 1000 Test runs at Old Trafford on 22, a significant event that sparkled with underlying meaning. Root hails from Yorkshire. Lancastrian stairs are these. Here, the roses bloom in a different way. Nevertheless, it has turned into a stage for his grandeur all the time. A silent reminder of how Root has scored everywhere—through spin and swing, in seaming gloom and tropical glare—was also provided by that moment, 1000 runs at a rival’s den. An Ashes century in Australia is the only uncharted territory left. And who could blame him for that last flourish if it happens later this year?
He moved to number 31 at 11:50 AM by lightly dabbing the third man off Bumrah. It was simply another single, but it was the first to surpass Rahul Dravid, a legend whom he had also overtaken for the most catches at Lord’s the previous week. Five minutes later, Mohammed Siraj got past Jacques Kallis with a punched single through cover. Every step was done in the same method he has used to create his legacy: quietly, deftly, and without fanfare.
He achieved his half-century, his 67th in Test cricket, at 12:34 PM. Naturally, that number would return to 66. Do you recall when his one weakness was conversion? Possibly the single significant setback in a 13-year career. The Friday audience at Old Trafford, however, now understood the beat of it all and its direction. The weightlessness of his deflections, the exact motions across the crease, that well-known combination of patience and balance. Root wasn’t trying to prove anything. All he was doing was restating what has long been known: that he belongs in the same discussion as the names he passes by and pulls level with.
Before moving on to the next phase, which was to match Kumar Sangakkara on 38 Test hundreds, there were still a few nervous moments. Last year at Lord’s, he had already surpassed the Sri Lankan’s run total, and now he was intruding on another column. Siraj found additional lift from the Brian Statham End on the second new ball. One ball ricocheted off Root’s thigh guard and trickled just past the stumps, while two others bounced past his wafts.
Anshul Kamboj, however, gave a kind one on the pads at 3:03 PM. Root clipped it away for four and allowed the roar to swell around him. Even yet, it wasn’t the afternoon’s loudest applause. At 3:35 PM, that occurred. He had leveled the score with Ricky Ponting seven minutes earlier. Then, with a dab that reverberated like a drum, Root slid across his stumps and opened the bat face to direct the ball to third-man, reaching 13,379 Test runs. The Australian legend was on commentary when he was called up to No. 3, the spot he had earned with the bat and which is now reflected on the all-time chart.
All week long, the magic number ‘120’ had been discussed in whispers. However, some Indian players failed to clock it at the time. Stokes wasn’t entirely certain either. when they did five minutes later during the tea break, the ground rose in unison when the huge screen flickered and history caught up.
At 5:20 PM, Root had completed the day’s climb, reaching 150 steps, bringing his career total to 13, 409. It was a smooth ascent to fame by all measures: graceful, fluid, and apparently unavoidable. he continued to force himself to perform better. He mistimed an on-drive off Shardul Thakur just before the finish of the day’s climb, and he walked away toward square leg while grumbling to himself and removing and reapplying his gloves. He leaned into the same shot two balls later, and it purred through mid-on for four this time. That boyish smile returned to the 34-year-old’s face at the mid-overs break.
The same smile Kevin Pietersen recalls from Nagpur, when a 21-year-old Root, eager and fresh-faced on his Test debut, approached the England star and said, “All right, lad? What’s happening outside?”
But today, thirteen years later, Root remains the center of stability in a flash squad, still ascending and moving. There is now only one more step to take.
Tendulkar. These two teams are competing for a trophy with their names engraved on it.
The last summit. Once far away, nearly legendary. Only a step away now.
