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England batter Joe Root added another achievement to his already impressive Test career by equalling India legend Rahul Dravid’s long-standing record for the most catches by a fielder in Test cricket.
Root reached the milestone during day four of the ongoing first Test against India at Headingley on Monday. The 34-year-old took a sharp catch at first slip to dismiss Shardul Thakur off the bowling of Josh Tongue, bringing his total number of Test catches to 210.
However, Root reached the mark in just 154 Tests, 10 fewer than Dravid’s 164 matches.
Following Root and Dravid, Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene is third on the all-time list with 205 catches in 149 matches. Australia’s Steve Smith and South Africa’s Jacques Kallis are tied in fourth place with 200 catches each.
Former Pakistan captain Younis Khan is the only Pakistani cricketer in the top 15. He took 139 catches in 118 Test matches.
Most catches by fielders in Test cricket:
Joe Root (England) – 210*
Rahul Dravid (India) – 210
Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka) – 205
Steve Smith (Australia) – 200*
Jacques Kallis (South Africa) – 200
Root’s impressive fielding record is just one of several milestones he is close to reaching. Having recently crossed 13,000 Test runs during England’s one-off Test against Zimbabwe, the right-hander now has 13,006 runs from 153 matches at an average of 50.80. His record includes 36 centuries and 65 half-centuries.
He now needs only 283 more runs to surpass Dravid on the all-time run-scorers list, 284 to go past Jacques Kallis, and 373 runs to move ahead of Australia’s Ricky Ponting. All three are just ahead of him on the list of highest Test run scorers, which is topped by India’s Sachin Tendulkar, who scored 15,921 runs in his legendary career.
With four more Tests to go in the series, Root has a strong chance to break several major records with the bat.
