Joe Root is on the hunt to rise to the top in all the run-scoring charts of Test cricket. Whether it is India, South Africa, Australia, West Indies or Sri Lanka, the English batter has been relentlessly pilling up runs in the longest format of the game. In the process, he has not only differentiated himself from the active lot rather also left many legends behind. Owing to a scintillating run in the summer against West Indies and Sri Lanka, Root finished as the top scorer in both series (291 against WI and 375 against SL). While Gus Atkinson was picked as the player of the series against West Indies, Root stood out to win the award following the end of the Sri Lanka series.

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Joe Root Goes Past Sachin Tendulkar

The Sri Lanka series will go down as the 6th bilateral affair when Joe Root was adjudged with the player of the series award. The 33-year-old has leapfrogged England's Graham Gooch, Andrew Strauss and James Anderson to win the most such honours for his country. He has also gone past Sachin Tendulkar's mark, who concluded his career with 5 such awards. Overall, he is sixth in the list, still 5 behind the great Muttiah Muralitharan, who is at the top of the tree with 11 man of the series awards.

Most Player of the Series awards in Test cricket:

1 - Muttiah Muralitharan: 11 Player of the Series awards

2 - Ravichandran Ashwin : 10 Player of the Series awards

3 - Jacques Kallis: 9 Player of the Series awards

4 - Imran Khan, Richard Hadlee and Shane Warne: 8 Player of the Series awards

5 - Wasim Akram and Shivnarine Chanderpaul: 7 Player of the Series awards

6 - Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose, Steve Waugh and Joe Root: 6 Player of the Series awards

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Root Eyeing Tendulkar's Grand Test Record

Joe Root recently breached the 12000 mark and became the 6th leading run-scorer in Test cricket. All the ones above him in the list have culminated their respective careers. Hence, as the sole runner, he has the opportunity to surpass the great Sachin Tendulkar, who is at the top of the mountain with 15921 runs.