Veteran England batter Joe Root is determined to add more runs to his tally after becoming England’s highest run-scorer in the longest format. He also said he is single-mindedly focused on winning the Test in Multan. Root, who enjoyed a stunning home summer, became the leading run scorer for England in Test cricket after overhauling Sir Alastair Cook’s tally of 12472 runs as well. The veteran right-handed batter is now fifth in the list of top run-scorers in Test cricket as well.

Speaking after the third day’s play in the first Test against Pakistan, he said, as quoted by BBC Sport: “I’m obviously proud, but still feel there’s plenty more left to do. I’m sure I’ll look back at it when I’m finished and be very proud of it, but I think more than anything just the way we played today as a team is what stands out. We’ve still got an opportunity to win the game, which is really exciting. Hopefully we can kick on tomorrow. Things can happen quite quickly towards the back end of the game. We’ll continue to work hard to take advantage of this great start we’ve got.”

Meanwhile, Alastair Cook underlined that he expects Joe Root to keep his drive and hunger for runs going for the next two years. He told BBC Test Match Special: “I would be betting on Root to do it. I don’t see Root losing that hunger and ability to keep driving himself forward for the next couple of years. The only slight hurdle in his way will be the Ashes series – there is always something happening around the series. It’s in 14 months’ time and there’s always a story about the damage that happens or doesn’t happen around every Ashes series.”