Can Joe Root break Mohammad Yousuf's record of 1788 runs in a year?

Gunner786

First Class Captain
Joined
Jul 13, 2006
Runs
4,886
158 runs to go with two innings left.

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With the number of matches to be played he can certainly do it. Worth remembering though that he is currently on the same number of matches as MoYo and is 400 runs behind.
 
Remarkable that Yousuf and Viv both achieved these numbers in just 11 tests, Root wil have had 16 by years end. So it would be an incorrect, or incomplete comparison. It would be remarkable if he breaks the record of 9 hundreds in a year, even with all those extra innings.
 
He joins Dennis Compton and Michael Vaughan as Englishmen to have scored six test centuries in a calendar year.

Vaughan's form in 2002 was an absolute dream, and this is the closest I have seen an English batsman replicating that consistency.
 
With the number of matches to be played he can certainly do it. Worth remembering though that he is currently on the same number of matches as MoYo and is 400 runs behind.

Yousuf made maximum use of a mediocre west indies then, whilst root fought hard so far for this against far superior bowlers in tougher conditions

The 2 match winning double hundreds in sub continents were sumptuous
 
Remarkable that Yousuf and Viv both achieved these numbers in just 11 tests, Root wil have had 16 by years end. So it would be an incorrect, or incomplete comparison. It would be remarkable if he breaks the record of 9 hundreds in a year, even with all those extra innings.

That would include Richards’ monster series in England in 1976. There was a 291 in there. England couldn’t get him out.
 
1398 runs now.

390 behind Yousuf.
 
Yousuf made maximum use of a mediocre west indies then, whilst root fought hard so far for this against far superior bowlers in tougher conditions

The 2 match winning double hundreds in sub continents were sumptuous

Sri Lanka's bowling was weak and he had the luxury of batting on a flat Chennai wicket in India.

Both have played matches against teams not at their best (Root's being Sri Lanka), but with regards to the difficulty of conditions, playing in England is harder.

Still, one must appreciate how classy Yousuf was to make that record at that point in time.
 
Yousuf made maximum use of a mediocre west indies then, whilst root fought hard so far for this against far superior bowlers in tougher conditions

The 2 match winning double hundreds in sub continents were sumptuous

Yousuf wasn't exactly playing against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. He hit a double hundred at Lord's.

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He is in very very good touch right now , and he will probably break both the records
 
Has 5 Test matches to go this year assuming the Ashes goes ahead.

2 more v India then 3 Ashes matches.

He needs 391 runs to beat Yousuf's record. At this stage, the biggest hurdle to that record is Australia's quarantine rules.

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given how much test cricket is played its crazy that 3 of the top 4 only played 11 tests.

also vivs s.r was mad considering the era he was batting in.
 
India have no way of getting him out.
Basically just have to hope Bumrah or Siraj bowl something unplayable.
Will be interesting to see him v Cummins later this year.
 
Great numbers, but I'm afraid it doesn't come close to Yousuf and Viv who did this in far fewer games. It's comparing apples with oranges.
 
I'm just in awe at the beast mode Yousuf was in that year. What a player.
 
I am just looking forward to seeing what happens next for Joe Root. Even if he fails to reach fifty again this year, it is already a great year, and England fans are certainly thrilled to have a genuinely world-class Test batsman in their ranks. If he breaks any records it will be a bonus.
 
MoYo & Viv are in a different class.. but it would still be a remarkable achievement if he gets 1700 runs.. hope he gets 8 tons & 1660 runs ��
 
Even a prolific player like Ponting with +9 more inns than Yousuf, couldn't get anywhere near him.
 
That would include Richards’ monster series in England in 1976. There was a 291 in there. England couldn’t get him out.

Weirdly enough Yousuf also had a monster series in England.

And now Root is having a monster series, admittedly home but as shown by many batsmen on all sides, still a tough place to bat.

Shows why Root is so remarkable.
 
Weirdly enough Yousuf also had a monster series in England.

England are one of the few sides which play a proper length test series every summer, so you could imagine any player that breaks Yousuf's record in the future will have played in England.
 
England are one of the few sides which play a proper length test series every summer, so you could imagine any player that breaks Yousuf's record in the future will have played in England.

England is also the hardest place to bat though. Teams get all out under 250 basically every other innings. Every 4th or 5th batting innings is sub 150 all out which is practically a collapse. Root has scored more than double the amount of runs as the second best this series, he's a massive outlier.
 
Remarkable that Yousuf and Viv both achieved these numbers in just 11 tests, Root wil have had 16 by years end. So it would be an incorrect, or incomplete comparison. It would be remarkable if he breaks the record of 9 hundreds in a year, even with all those extra innings.

That's the point. It will remain as a record on behalf of Root but it won't surpass the glory of Viv and Yusuf. Any good batsman like Root can break the record if he gets to play 16 test matches.
 
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They should take Viv and MoYo on for a discussion / chat for a session if Root does it or when he gets close. None of these batsmen and their records are flukes. Each of these three brought something to the game that will be talked about for time to come.
 
Great to see Root score volumes of runs. And more importantly, impactful centuries. It was slightly disappointing to see his returns in the last couple of years, where he was struggling to keep up with the others in the crudely coined "Fab 4". It was always a question of form, never quality.

Looks like he's finally settled on the tempo to go from 50 to a 100, which is at a pretty brisk rate (almost ODI-esque at times).

To the Qs in the OP: as the cliché goes, "records are meant to be broken", so why not?
 
To the ones knocking Joe Root for taking more matches, I'm pretty sure MoYo and Viv didn't play on wickets in India where 140 was a winning score at Ahmedabad. Root has had to play the majority of tests against arguably the best bowling attack in the world against a top 2 side in India and on some of the most challenging wickets in India. Only the first test at Chennai was a flat wicket. Even the wickets he played on in Sri Lanka were turners from memory and he made them look like flat wickets.

Root has been in such an incredible vein of form and he will richly deserve the award if he breaks it given he has had to face stronger attacks and sides, and challenging conditions to do so.
 
Ah yes, glad someone reminded me. It was Mo Yusuf with the record of 1788 test runs in a calendar year - for some reason I had mistaken it to be Mo Hafeez.. although no doubt both were legendary batsmen of their times.
 
Ah yes, glad someone reminded me. It was Mo Yusuf with the record of 1788 test runs in a calendar year - for some reason I had mistaken it to be Mo Hafeez.. although no doubt both were legendary batsmen of their times.

Hafeez is the real record breaker — he once scored 3000 Test runs in 6 calendar months — but this is such an outlier that it is considered unfair to the other players to hold them to the same standard. Hence the popular belief is that Yousuf holds the record.
 
To the ones knocking Joe Root for taking more matches, I'm pretty sure MoYo and Viv didn't play on wickets in India where 140 was a winning score at Ahmedabad. Root has had to play the majority of tests against arguably the best bowling attack in the world against a top 2 side in India and on some of the most challenging wickets in India. Only the first test at Chennai was a flat wicket. Even the wickets he played on in Sri Lanka were turners from memory and he made them look like flat wickets.

Root has been in such an incredible vein of form and he will richly deserve the award if he breaks it given he has had to face stronger attacks and sides, and challenging conditions to do so.

People forget how bowling friendly modern era is in test cricket. Sub 150 collapse is extremely common. Root also plays in the most bowling friendly country.
 
Ah yes, glad someone reminded me. It was Mo Yusuf with the record of 1788 test runs in a calendar year - for some reason I had mistaken it to be Mo Hafeez.. although no doubt both were legendary batsmen of their times.

And the fact he was also a professor is tremendous.

That puts him well above Yousuf for me.
 
He will do it the way he has been batting. Mr. Reliable is easily the best batsman of this year, deserves to break the record
 
But for the last test, he fully made use of his form. Divine touch. I expect him to bounce back in the final test.
 
He is batting really well. It will not surprise me to see him score those runs.
 
That year Yousuf was in different league. Every time he walked out to bat it was like just continuation from last inns.
 
So that's one less Test to do it in now....
 
So that's one less Test to do it in now....


With his current form, he may still get it. It will be a great series if he can help Eng put some runs in Aus.
 
Tough for who?
Who is right now at peak of his powers
Who is scoring 100 and 150+ scores for fun
And why is it tough when he has to play these three tests in australia on flat pitches

Root has never done well in Aus. Scoring at home is easier.

The Aussie pitches have pace and bounce which he doesnt enjoy.
 
First time seeing this that M Yousuf actually had 99 average that year including 9 - 100s in 19 innings. This was some Bradman year for him. Incredible!
 
333 runs behind Yousuf with 5 potential innings left, looking difficult now.

There's something special about that Yousuf record and from a Pakistani perspective, I hope Root doesn't break the record.
 
england will be hoping Root gets a match saving 333 in the 2nd inns of this test after pathetic 1st inns showing ;)
 
It’s not looking impossible is it?

I think Joe will just miss the record though.

Either way — a fantastic individual year for Root and he is right now the best Test batter in world cricket quite comfortably, fully deserving of his number one rank.
 
Root doesn't need to run for these records inflated by minnow bashing on flat wickets.

He is a giant of the game and should be considered in the pantheon of the test greats like Tendulkar, Lara and Smith.
 
Root doesn't need to run for these records inflated by minnow bashing on flat wickets.

He is a giant of the game and should be considered in the pantheon of the test greats like Tendulkar, Lara and Smith.

WHo's stats are inflated with minnow bashing? Yusuf played India, SL (Away, a great great side at the time), England (Away, just beaten Aus at home in previous summer) and WI, who were a far better side back then.

Just curious who you believe minnow bashed? :srt
 
First time seeing this that M Yousuf actually had 99 average that year including 9 - 100s in 19 innings. This was some Bradman year for him. Incredible!

I think he also broke or equaled the record for most number of calendar year centuries, going toe to toe with...you guessed it, the Don.
 
WHo's stats are inflated with minnow bashing? Yusuf played India, SL (Away, a great great side at the time), England (Away, just beaten Aus at home in previous summer) and <B>WI</B>, who were a far better side back then.

Just curious who you believe minnow bashed? :srt

Runs at home on flat wickets of Karachi and Rawalpindi against a Windies attack of Fidel Edwards, Jerome Taylor and a T20 specialist Dwayne Bravo falls in the definition of minnow bashing. He scored like four big hundreds in five innings. Also, Indian attack of Kumble and other mediocre pacers as long as it is not in India is nothing special to boost about.

I personally rate his other teammate who was a couple of years younger than him more highly because he actually turned the heat on a year earlier when Pakistan toured India and performed vs Kumble in India around that time.

Between against Murali, he went missing in that Sri Lanka series if I am not wrong. Nevertheless credit though, the minnow bashing extent was magnificent. He has his names in the record books.
 
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Brisbane, England captain Joe Root has gone past former skipper Michael Vaughan for most Test runs by a player from the country in a calendar year. Vaughan scored 1,481 runs at an average of 61.14 back in 2002, including six centuries and two half-centuries. Root went into tea on day three of the first Ashes Test against Australia at The Gabba level with Vaughan on 26 not out.

In the final session, Root pulled for a single to deep backward square leg off off-spinner Nathan Lyon after tea on day three of first Ashes Test at The Gabba to bring up the milestone. Later on, Root passed the half-century mark in the final session on day three as his 118-run partnership with Dawid Malan took England to 179/2 in 55 overs.

The 30-year-old has been in excellent form this year, making six centuries, including two double centuries at Galle and Chennai. Root started the year with 426 runs in two Tests against Sri Lanka, and followed it up with 386 runs in the four-match series in India. At home, Root made 97 runs in two matches against New Zealand followed by amassing 564 in four Tests against India.

Root also holds three of the top five overall yearly aggregate spots of all England batsmen in Test history, having previously scored 1477 runs in 2016 and 1385 runs in 2015. After surpassing Vaughan, Root is currently sitting on number eight on the list of players who have scored the most Test runs in a calendar year.

Root still has the chance to go for the world record as the second and third Ashes Tests will happen at Adelaide and Melbourne respectively before the year ends. Pakistan's Mohammed Yousuf sits top of the list with 1788 runs in 2006 at an astonishing average of 99.33 while the legendary West Indies batter Viv Richards is second with 1710 runs in 1976 at a whopping average of 90.

https://www.timesnownews.com/sports...uns-by-england-player-in-calender-year/839396
 
Root doesn't need to run for these records inflated by minnow bashing on flat wickets.

He is a giant of the game and should be considered in the pantheon of the test greats like Tendulkar, Lara and Smith.

Agreed, Root and Smith are the two ATG batsman in this era. Have performed exceptionally well all over the world.

Root's record is extremely underrated, England is by far the hardest country to bat this era, even for English batsmen.
 
Agreed, Root and Smith are the two ATG batsman in this era. Have performed exceptionally well all over the world.

Root's record is extremely underrated, England is by far the hardest country to bat this era, even for English batsmen.

Smith as a test batsman is a giant best we have seen probably better than Sachin. Root is a great player but not as good as Sachin.
 
Getting quietly thrilled by just how far Root could go. All things considered he is on the way to becoming an ATG at present.
 
Getting quietly thrilled by just how far Root could go. All things considered he is on the way to becoming an ATG at present.

Root is already an ATG test batsman and verging on ATG all format status. He is SO underrated as an ODI bat and although not part of England's T20 plans, his ability to stabilise like Babar or Kohli is key and England hsould revisit him in the format.

I have been a Root fan for so long and always felt he has been disrespected by a lot of so called cricket fans...and many of them on this forum now bigging him up haha But as a batsman, he is so well rounded, level headed, can up the anti and show grit and play long when needed. Of the fab four, he is the best to watch imo.
 
Smith as a test batsman is a giant best we have seen probably better than Sachin. Root is a great player but not as good as Sachin.

Not on Sachin's level but pretty close imo. Root plays in England, gets absolutely no support and often has to bat for the entire team, in the most bowling friendly era since WW2. Every single team Root plays against have multiple great bowlers.

The more you dig up Root's stats (especially in context), the better it looks.
 
Not on Sachin's level but pretty close imo. Root plays in England, gets absolutely no support and often has to bat for the entire team, in the most bowling friendly era since WW2. Every single team Root plays against have multiple great bowlers.

The more you dig up Root's stats (especially in context), the better it looks.

Talk about an overstatement. Sachin scored his first century in Australia as an 18 year old.

Root is yet to score a test century in Australia in his career and he's already 30 years old. A good 80ish score and he's already close to beating Tendulkar..:srt
 
As things stand:

Most Test runs in a calendar year:

1788 Mohammad Yousuf in 2006
1710 Viv Richards in 1976
1656 Graeme Smith in 2008
1595 Michael Clarke in 2012
1562 Sachin Tendulkar in 2010
1555 Sunil Gavaskar in 1979
1544 Ricky Ponting in 2005
1541 Joe Root in 2021
 
So Root has a maximum of four innings to get the 248 runs required to surpass Mohammad Yousuf. An average of 62 per innings is required. With this Aussie attack and England's weak batting, i do feel the record will be safe.

If Root does not break it, i don't see it being broken for a while as i feel not many batters have it in them to bat long and big in the current climate of international cricket although they do play significantly more tests these days. It just shows how well Yousuf batted that year and the level of his class.
 
Talk about an overstatement. Sachin scored his first century in Australia as an 18 year old.

Root is yet to score a test century in Australia in his career and he's already 30 years old. A good 80ish score and he's already close to beating Tendulkar..:srt

No one can beat Sachin, not even modern day beast Kohli. Sachin was a class player.
 
Root's real test remains Australia. He will have to do well in this series to make a strong case for himself.

But everywhere else, he is already proven and has pretty balanced stats.
 
Still a chance that he might do it.

Doesn’t matter either way though, a brilliant year for him.
 
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