Joe Root
It was like first-day-of-school feeling for England skipper Joe Root, lining up against India on Friday, the opponent and the country where it all began for him in world cricket. On his Test debut in Nagpur during England's famous Test series win, a 21-year-old Root had little idea that he would almost equal the batting credentials of his the then skipper Alastair Cook.
Root, in his 100th Test for England at the age of 30, produced third consecutive ton in the sub-continent to prove his character. Staying unbeaten on 128, a knock hinged upon sweep shots, Root soaked the pressure off England's batting order with his 200-run record stand with Dom Sibley at Chepauk.
The duo became the first overseas pair to notch up a double-century partnership in India, almost eight years after Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell achieved the feat in Nagpur Test in 2012.
As Root walked at stumps, minutes after plummetting on the floor with cramps and helped by his Indian counterpart Virat Kohli, he had a bunch of records to his name. Boasting a 'Bradman-Esque' average in 2021, the England skipper continued his purple patch as England finished on 263/3, with Root's 20th Test ton being the highlight of the day's play.
After becoming the 15th English player to play 100 Tests, Root, filled with emotions, walked up with Kohli for the toss but forgot his team for the first Test. He, however, made up for it with a memorable ton. "I was a little bit emotional. I couldn't even remember our team when he [the commentator] asked me about it. I was a little bit all over the place. But, thankfully, when I went there, I knew it was business as normal. I had a job to do. I did it," he told the media after the day's play.
Here are a few milestones which Root achieved on the first day of the opening Test:
- Root became the second England player after Alastair Cook to hit fifty scores of fifty in Tests. He also now has 69 50+ scores in Test cricket, going past Ian Bell who had crossed the mark on 68 occasions.
- Root also became the ninth player to hit a century in his 100th Test. He joined the elite list comprising Colin Cowdrey, Javed Miandad, Gordon Greenidge, Alec Stewart, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Ricky Ponting, Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla.
- Root also became only the third cricketer to play both his first and 100th Test match in the same country he was touring.
- Root also equalled his record of centuries in a calendar year (3). This was Root's third century in as many Tests, with earlier two coming in Sri Lanka in the previous series that England won 2-0.
- Root has now scored a fifty in his first Test, 50th Test as well as in the 100th game.
- Root (30 years and 37 days) is now the third-youngest player after Cook and Sachin Tendulkar to feature in 100 Test matches.
- Root also became only the 3rd Englishman after Colin Cowdrey & Alec Stewart to record a century in 100th Test.
- Root already has 503 Test runs this year, eyeing to edge past Mohammad Yousuf's record of most runs in a calendar year (1788).
The day's play ended with Sibley being trapped off Jasprit Bumrah's delivery that was pitched high. Root, however, looked unperturbed, indicating a massive first-innings total for England. The Root-Sibley duo had already damaged the Indian chassis by then.
"We have got to look and try and get as many as we can 600-700 if we can, really trying to make most of the first innings make it good and those four overs trying to work quickly.
"So if we can bat into whole of tomorrow or maybe day three then things could speed up quite quickly for us and you never know what can happen for that point onwards...," said Root, raring to be in the middle on Day 2.
