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Delhi: Joe Root missed out on joining an exclusive club with Virat Kohli by just one run. In the Leeds Test against Pakistan, England have strengthened their grip very much by the end of the second day's play. Pakistan's first innings was reduced to 171 runs, in response to which England scored 366 runs at the loss of 8 wickets. England now have a lead of 195 runs and still have two wickets left. Captain Joe Root had a big contribution in taking England to this strong position, who played a brilliant inning of 66 runs with the help of 10 fours in 112 balls and completed the 68th fifty of his Test career. However, during this innings, Root missed coming very close to a big record.

In fact, among the batsmen who have scored more than 10 thousand runs in all three formats i.e. Test, ODI and T20 International, Virat Kohli's batting average is more than 50. Kohli is the only batsman in this special club whose average is above 50. To join this club, Joe Root had to score 67 runs in the first innings, but he was out on 66 runs only. That means just one run stopped Root from equaling this special record of Virat. After this inning, Root's overall international batting average has become 49.99 and he is just 0.01 away from the 50 mark. Among the batsmen who have scored more than 10 thousand international runs, Virat Kohli is said to be at the forefront with an average of 52.71, while Root is behind him with 49.99. After him, there are great batsmen like Jacques Kallis, Michael Hussey, Viv Richards, Sachin Tendulkar, Kane Williamson, AB de Villiers and Steve Smith.

However, before this innings of Root, the situation was not at all easy for England. In the first hour of the second day, Pakistan bowlers were getting good movement from the pitch. The first one and a half session of play was also affected due to rain and when the match resumed, the sky remained overcast. Amidst artificial lights, Pakistani bowlers troubled the English batsmen by bowling in the right areas, but they could not maintain their line and length for long. Joe Root and Jordan Cox took advantage of this and both took their partnership forward and added 150 runs. After this, Harry Brook batted aggressively and played a stormy innings of 91 runs and put England in a strong position. Brook remained just 9 runs away from his century, but his innings completely put Pakistan on the backfoot. Now England will be eyeing to increase their lead further, while Pakistan has the challenge of finding a way to get back into the match by quickly taking the remaining two wickets. Joe Root remained just one run short of averaging 50, but his innings of 66 runs has definitely put England under such pressure against Pakistan that it will not be easy for the visiting team to get out of it.