The outstanding batsman spent 12 balls on 99 before elegantly guiding paceman Lahiru Kumara for four between slip and gully to reach his hundred off 162 balls, which included 13 fours.
Root’s achievement is particularly noteworthy as he reached the record in his 145th match, compared to Cook’s 161 games. This feat also places Root in joint-tenth position on the all-time list of Test century-makers, alongside some of the greatest names in cricket history.
The list is headed by India’s Sachin Tendulkar, who scored 51 hundreds in 200 Tests from 1989-2013.
What sets Root apart from the other batsmen in this elite group is that, at 33 years old, he is the only one who is still actively playing Test cricket, while all the others have retired from the format.
This underscores Root’s exceptional talent and his potential to further cement his place among the all-time greats of the game.
Most Test hundreds (number of hundreds, matches, player, team (s), span):
51 200 Sachin Tendulkar IND 1989-2013
45 166 Jacques Kallis RSA 1995-2013
41 168 Ricky Ponting AUS 1995-2012
38 134 Kumar Sangakkara SRI 2000-2015
36 164 Rahul Dravid IND/ICC 1996-2012
34 118 Younis Khan PAK 2000-2017
34 125 Sunil Gavaskar IND 1971-1987
34 131 Brian Lara WIS/ICC 1990-2006
34 149 Mahela Jayawardene SRI 1997-2014
33 145 Joe Root ENG 2012 –
33 161 Alastair Cook ENG 2006-2018
