Harry Brook has 'hunger of Joe Root' and 'shots like Kevin Pietersen' after starring with triple-century against Pakistan

"Harry Brook has the shots of Kevin Pietersen and the rhythm and hunger of Joe Root."

High praise indeed from Sky Sports' Nasser Hussain, referencing a tweet he'd seen while Brook became just the sixth England batter in history to notch a triple-century.

Brook's remarkable knock was part of an England record partnership of 454 with Joe Root (262) - his sixth double-ton and new career best - and came at quite the rate too, his 317 taking all of 322 balls as England amassed the fourth-highest Test score of all time, 823-7 declared.

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Hussain: Brook innings unheard of

"You get a run-a-ball fifty maybe in Test cricket, but a triple-hundred at virtually a run a ball is unheard of!" Hussain said. "It was a phenomenal knock.

"I saw a tweet actually and I quite agree with it: Harry Brook has the shots of Kevin Pietersen and the rhythm and hunger of Joe Root.

"If you named five of England's greatest ever players, Pietersen and Root would be in there. He has the 'flamingo' shot he plays like Pietersen, plus the Yorkshire grit of Root, and his tempo."

Root, who surpassed Sir Alastair Cook as England's all -time leading Test run-scorer on day three, had eyed Brook's talent early on as he progressed through the ranks at county club Yorkshire.

"I remember being at The Oval about five years ago and I was about to go up to Headingley for a [T20] Blast game, and Joe said to me, 'One lad you have to look out for is Harry Brook'," Hussain recalled.

"You can see what he saw in Brook. He is beautiful to watch."

Root: I knew how good Brook was going to be

Interviewed together at the end of the day's play, one which sees England closing in on a remarkable opening win - Pakistan reduced to 152-6 in their second innings, following the visitors' staggering score - Root recalled his early assessment of Brook.

"I knew how good he [Brook] was going to be. It was just a case of when he was going to figure it out," he told Sky Sports.

"The pace in which he's matured into the player that he is, is probably the one thing that has shocked me. But at the same time, it hasn't, because of his work ethic, the way that he looks at the game.

"For someone with so little common sense outside of cricket, the intelligence that he has when he's got a bat in his hand and the understanding of different scenarios and his own game, it's quite contrasting.

"To see him go and play like that today was awesome. And to be stood at the other end for most of it was a real treat."

Athers: Brook learning from 'greedy' Root

The very fact Root was down the other end for the majority of Brook's knock was a contributing factor to the brilliance of it, reasoned both Hussain and fellow former England captain Michael Atherton.

Even Brook himself admitted that what kept him going was "trying to get past him [Root]", he told Sky Sports.

"Batting with Root indicates what his ceiling could be if he [Brook] transmits all of his potential and promise into achievement, as Root has done over a dozen years or so," Atherton said.

"Brook is clearly as talented... has he got the drive over a long period of time to keep chalking up the runs?

"In this heat and dust, when Root has got 10,000 odd runs [12,644] and is England's highest run-scorer of all time, he is still greedy for runs.

"The fact Root was doing it at one end, 10 years older than Brook, may have kept Brook going as well.

"If he was batting out there with a Ben Duckett, you could see a situation where they might have tried to outdo each other. They used to say that about Viv Richard and Ian Botham at Somerset - they rarely got runs together because they were always trying to hit the ball further than the other.

"Brook looking at Root - the greed, the hunger, the desire - you could see that he was just as hungry to get a big score."

Hussain added: "If the teacher is in the room - and Root has taught us all how to bat for the last 12 years - you tend to behave yourself.

"If the teacher is not in the room, you mess around with your mates a little bit, like a Duckett and a [Zak] Crawley.

"Brook would have grown up watching Root bat, and now he is out there breaking records with him."

Brook comes up shy of Test batting records

At one stage, it looked like Brook was going to add further to the records tumbling during the England innings, with Graham Gooch's post-war 333 in his sights, as well as Len Hutton's England record of 364 and Brian Lara's all-time mark of 400.

"I didn't think Lara, but I thought he might have had Hutton in his sights," Atherton concluded. "That's a record that most of us think might never be beaten in our lifetime.

"Pre the Second World War, in 1938, he scored 364 against Australia at The Oval on what is regarded as the flattest pitch of all time, probably even flatter than this one in Multan.

"Because of the speed at which Brook scores, he wasn't far away when he got out."

Brook ultimately succumbed for 317 when upping the ante to set up England's declaration, with the tourists now eyeing yet another record as they look to wrap up victory on the final day.

This is the third time in Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes-led era that England have conceded 500 runs in a Test match. They have won both the other two, while an innings defeat for Pakistan on day five would be the first time in Test history a team has done so after posting 500-plus.

"An incredible day for stats," Hussain said. "In what has been, at times, a bit of a dull, turgid Test because of the pitch."

An England victory on Friday and that's not how this game will go down in the history books.

Watch day five of the first Test between Pakistan and England in Multan, live on Sky Sports Cricket and Main Event from 5.50am on Friday, ahead of play starting from 6am. Stream with NOW

Fabio Wardley's huge rematch with Frazer Clarke is on the epic Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol bill on Saturday October 12 live on Sky Sports Box Office. Book Wardley v Clarke 2 and Beterbiev v Bivol now!

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