England skipper Joe Root‘s 2021 ended in stark contrast to that of his batting partners, finishing as the only batter across the world to cross 1,000 Test runs during a record-breaking year.

His final tally of 1,708 runs, aided by six hundreds (two of those double) and four fifties, was easily his best year in the format, finishing third on the list of most runs in a single year. That chart is still led by Mohammad Yousuf, who was unstoppable in 2006, with Vivian Richards just about maintaining his place at No.2.

Yousuf was on a different planet 15 years ago, the only time he crossed the 1000-run mark in a calendar year. He hit nine centuries in all – one of which was a double against England at Lord’s, and three scores in the 190s. Remarkably, though, his tally of 1,788 runs came in just 19 innings, 10 fewer than that of Root in 2021.

He played against four opponents  – India, Sri Lanka (away), England (away) and West Indies, managing just two single-digit scores in 19 innings. With the likes of Salman Butt, Younis Khan and Shoaib Malik/Mohammad Hafeez above him, and Inzamam-ul-Haq, Kamran Akmal and Shahid Afridi to follow, Yousuf had plenty of cushioning around, sharing five 100+ partnerships with Younis alone.

And while all of those batters came good at some point or another, Yousuf’s consistency remained machine-like.

Against India, he posted scores of 173, 65, 126, 0 and 97, playing a big role in Pakistan’s series triumph. After missing the first Test against Sri Lanka, he managed scores of 17 and 14* in the next one, perhaps the only little blip (if you can even call it that) in an otherwise outstanding year.

In England, he held his own, even as the team lost Tests in Headingley and Oval, scoring 192 and 128 in lost causes. Before that, he compiled a masterful 202 at Lord’s, when none of his teammates managed more than 69.

The form spilt into the West Indies series that followed, reeling off scores of 192, 56, 191, 102 and 124 in five innings. Along the way, he also became just the sixth Pakistani batter to hit centuries in both innings of a Test, and his tally of 665 runs was the third-highest by any batter in a three-Test series at that time, behind Graham Gooch (1990, India) and Brian Lara (2001/02, Sri Lanka). To date, no batter has hit more than seven centuries in a single year, compared to Yousuf’s nine. His average that year stood at a Bradmanesque 99.33.

It wasn’t a surprise that he earned the ICC Player of the Year award (even though the period of consideration began in August 2006), and was named one of the five Wisden cricketers of the year.

Run-sprees such as Root’s will come and go, but it will be difficult to match Yousuf’s exploits from 2006, one of the most complete phases of batting form in a single Test year.

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