Joe Root moves to second on Test all-time run-scoring list as he anchors England into dominant position against India in fourth Test

One by one he ticked them off, run by run he ascended the pantheon.

Joe Root began the third day of the fourth Test against India placed fifth on the all-time run-scoring list. By lunch, he had clambered above Rahul Dravid and Jacques Kallis. By tea, he had elbowed aside Ricky Ponting. Only Sachin Tendulkar now stands between him and immortality, and that gap – 2,521 and narrowing – will surely be overcome before Root hangs up his bat. Not yet 35, he is in the form of his life.

For the moment, he could simply enjoy the adulation of a lively Old Trafford on a day when England – 544 for seven at stumps, with an imposing lead of 186 – took control of the match, and probably the series. Not even the temporary retirement with cramp of Ben Stokes after his first half-century of the summer could dampen the mood.

Amid his rearrangement of Test batting's Mount Rushmore, Root ticked off his 38th hundred. It was celebrated first by a 20,000-strong cheer, then by the familiar war cry of 'Rooooot' that has echoed round English grounds this past decade and more, and sounds disconcertingly like a prolonged jeer.

As if. Root is that rarest of beasts: a humble master, a down-to-earth champion, as popular this side of the Pennines as he is on the other. Yorkshiremen are not often welcome here, but Root – a Sheffield lad – has won over the locals by confirming his credentials, again and again: he is now the only player in Test history to pass 1,000 runs at this ground.

Each of the three men above him in the order had threatened to play the innings that would crush Indian spirits. But Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett had perished on the second evening for 84 and 94, and on the third day Ollie Pope reached a semi-restorative 71 before poking Washington Sundar to slip soon after lunch.

If any shot summed up the difference between him and Root, this was it: even after 128 balls at the crease, Pope never shook off the suspicion that he was one involuntary twitch outside off stump away from his demise. Root, by contrast, oozed permanence. And to him, as so often, fell the honour of playing the decisive knock.

Appropriately, it was Ponting at the mike when Root moved past his tally of 13,378 runs with a quiet dab to third man five minutes before tea. 'Congratulations, Joe Root,' he said with feeling. 'Magnificent. Second in the table…'

Earlier, Ponting – who had owned that second spot for nearly 13 years – outlined on Sky Sports what makes Root the player he is: 'He's a classical Test-match batsman. He's calm, he eliminates mistakes, and he hits the ball where it's supposed to go. He puts a high price on his wicket. He never seems under pressure, or rushed.'

Did his appraisal imply criticism of Bazball? If so, Ponting might have been closer to the truth than he realised: ever since Root lost his wicket trying to reverse-scoop Jasprit Bumrah at Rajkot a year and a half ago, a stroke that enraged many England fans, he has shelved the frivolities, and reverted to unfussy, unadorned run-making.

By the time he overbalanced against Ravindra Jadeja around 5.20pm, and was stumped by Dhruv Jurel for 150, Root had taken his record since the Rajkot recklessness to 1,916 runs at 66, with eight centuries. It is a purple patch that shows little sign of going off-colour.

Earlier in the series, Root had lost the No 1 Test ranking to Harry Brook, only to reclaim it after his century during the third Test at Lord's. Now, with Brook's mid-series slump continuing when he advanced at Sundar, played for turn that didn't exist, and was stumped for three, it was as if Root had reasserted his seniority. Not that Root will see it that way, of course, but Brook would do well to bear in mind his team-mate's hunger.

The naysayers – and there remain a few – point to the absence of a Test hundred in Australia, though nine fifties there and an average of 35 are hardly a blemish. But most of the greats have a chink: Shane Warne averaged 47 with the ball against India, Dravid 29 with the bat in South Africa. And, this winter, in what is shaping up to be a seismic contest, Root can put that stat to bed.

With him during a fifth-wicket stand of 142 was Stokes, who had reached 20 five times in this series without getting past 44. Now, as India's bowlers tired on a flat surface and another day of Mancunian sunshine, he happily played second fiddle to the man he replaced three years ago as captain.

There was briefly a scare when Stokes began flexing his left leg, eventually leaving the field with 66 to his name, and raising inevitable concerns that his punishing workload with the ball had finally taken its toll. But England said he had nothing worse than cramp and, after Root, Jamie Smith and Chris Woakes all fell in the space of 29 runs, Stokes returned to the fray.

It was a day, though, that was all about the class of Root, an English sporting hero of the most unobtrusive kind. In the heat of battle for the Anderson–Tendulkar Trophy, he has it in him to knock one of those names off Test cricket's most exalted perch.