Joe Root slammed his sixth double century to put England in control on Day 4 of the first Test against Pakistan in Multan on Thursday.
He brought up his double century from 305 balls with a single off Agha Salman as England raced past Pakistan's 556 to take the first innings lead in the morning session on Day 4.
England were sitting in control on 562/3 in 115 overs in the morning session on the fourth day, scoring at nearly five per over.
Harry Brook also looked in smashing form, as he hit 174 from 214 balls, as the duo put on their second 300-run stand in Tests -- the first by any England pair.
Root got a lifeline when he was dropped on 186 by Babar Azam at midwicket off the bowling of pacer Naseem Shah in the 105th over.
He had brought up his 35th Test century on Day 3 on Wednesday as he went past the legendary trio of Sunil Gavaskar, Brian Lara and Younis Khan, who had made 34 centuries in their career.
This was Root's fifth century in 2024 -- the joint most by any player this year along with Sri Lankan Kamindu Mendis. He is the only batter to go past the 1000-run mark in 2024.
The 33-year-old England batter has the most centuries by any active player in Test cricket. He is sixth in the overall list behind Sachin Tendulkar (51), Jacques Kallis 45, Ricky Ponting (41), Kumar Sangakkara (38) and Rahul Dravid (36).
This was the third time that Root had scored five centuries in a calendar year, having earlier achieved the feat in 2021 and 2022.
Root also achieved another landmark to his name as he eclipsed Alastair Cook's tally of 12,472 runs when he reached 71 not out with an elegantly driven boundary on the third day.