Three steps up, Joe Root now a stride away from the summit

Joe Root Climbs to Second in Test Run-Scorers

At 3.40 PM, Joe Root climbed the 34 steps to the Old Trafford pavilion, moving with purpose and ease. The crowd applauded him throughout his ascent. At the top, he placed his helmet and gloves at the entrance, a quiet punctuation mark to a statement innings.

Root's climb wasn't just up the stairs; it was a climb into cricket's loftiest run-scoring company. He began the day as Test cricket's fifth-highest run-scorer and ended it second.

The climb began quietly at 11:28 AM. On 22, he brought up 1000 Test runs at Old Trafford, a landmark that glinted with subtext. Root is a Yorkshireman, and these are Lancastrian steps. Yet, it's become a constant stage for his greatness. That moment, 1000 runs at a rival's den, was also a quiet reminder of how Root has scored everywhere: through spin and swing, in seaming gloom and tropical glare. Only one frontier remains: an Ashes century in Australia.

At 11:50 AM, he moved to 31 with a gentle dab to third man off Bumrah, taking him past Rahul Dravid, a legend he'd also surpassed for most catches at Lord's last week. Five minutes later, a punched single through cover off Mohammed Siraj lifted him past Jacques Kallis.

At 12:34 PM, he reached his half-century, his 67th in Test cricket. He wasn't batting to make a point. He was simply reaffirming what has long been true: that he belongs in the conversation with the names he draws level with, and the ones he slips past.

There were a couple of nervy moments before matching Kumar Sangakkara on 38 Test centuries. Siraj, with the second new ball, found extra lift. Two balls bounced past Root's wafts and another ricocheted off his thigh guard.

But at 3:03 PM, Anshul Kamboj offered one on the pads, and Root clipped it away for four. The noise rose around him.

At 3:35 PM, he drew level with Ricky Ponting, shuffling across his stumps and steering the ball to third-man for four. The Australian legend was on commentary to call the moment that saw him move to No. 3 – the very position he made his own with the bat, now mirrored on the all-time chart.

The magic number '120' had been whispered about all week. The ground rose as one, just as they did again five minutes later at the Tea break.

When Root finished climbing all the steps for the day at 5.20 PM, he had made 150, taking his career tally to 13, 409. It was a fuss-free trek up legendhood: fluent, poised and seemingly inevitable. He still willed himself to do better. Just before the end of the day's ascent, he mistimed an on-drive and walked away toward square leg, muttering to himself, peeling and redoing his gloves. Two balls later, he leaned into the same shot, and it purred through mid-on for four. In the mid-overs break, that boyish grin was replanted on the 34-year-old face.