Pak vs Eng: England smash records

With the help of Joe Root’s double century and Harry Brook’s triple century, England achieved the highest innings total ever recorded against Pakistan, scoring 823 runs on the fourth day of the first Test match in Multan.

This made England only the second team in history to score more than 700 runs in a Test match against Pakistan. The previous record was held by the West Indies, who scored 790-3 against Pakistan in 1958.

England’s batsmen dominated, with no Pakistan bowler spared. Six bowlers, including Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmed, and Aamer Jamal, each gave away over 100 runs. This is only the second time in Test history that six bowlers from one team have conceded more than 100 runs in an innings. The first time was in 2004, when six Zimbabwean bowlers did the same.

This match also marked the fourth time in Test cricket that a team has scored over 800 runs in an innings, and the first time in the 21st century. The last time it happened was when Sri Lanka scored 952-6 against India in 1997. England had previously crossed the 800-run mark twice: 849 against the West Indies in 1930 and 903 against Australia in 1938.

In today’s match, Joe Root and Harry Brook’s efforts pushed England far beyond Pakistan’s first innings total of 556 runs. Root became the first English batter to reach 20,000 international runs. He was given a lifeline at 186 when Babar Azam dropped a catch, allowing him to go on and score his sixth double century. After reaching this milestone, Root celebrated by kissing the badge on his helmet.

By scoring his sixth double century, Root surpassed Alastair Cook, with only Wally Hammond ahead of him in England’s records with seven double centuries. Earlier this week, Root had also overtaken Cook as England’s top Test run-scorer.