Joe Root has been on fire, and he has made the most of the opportunity in the ongoing home series against Sri Lanka. The second Test between England and Sri Lanka is underway at Lord’s, and the former English captain has struck a century in both innings of the game.
After scoring 142 runs off 206 balls in the first innings, Root has now scored 103 off 121 balls in the second innings. This has been a memorable match for him because he has broken a plethora of records with his hundred in the second inning.
He has put his team in the commendable position at the end of the third day. Chasing the massive target of 483 runs, Sri Lanka are 53/2 with another 430 runs to win, while England need 8 wickets to win.
ENG vs SL: Joe Root breaks a list of massive records with his twin century at Lord’s in second Test
The century in the second innings was his 34th hundred in the longest format. With this, he has now hit most hundreds in the English Test cricket history. He has gone past Alastair Cook’s tally of 33 test tons and now is at the top of the tree. Joe Root has maintained an incredible consistency, and it is his 17th century in the longest format since 2021.
Since his debut in 2012, Root scored 17 centuries until 2021 in 177 innings. But after 2021, he has hit 17 hundreds in just 88 innings, which is hardly one century per five innings. Apart from this, Root also became the fourth batter after George Headly, Graham Gooch, and Michael Vaughan to hit twin centuries at the Lord’s cricket ground.
Overall, it was Root’s 7th century at Lord’s, and he has now most Test hundreds at this iconic venue. Meanwhile, Joe Root has 16 ODI centuries to go with 34 Test hundreds, and he became only the ninth batter in history to score 50 or more international centuries.
It was also 6th Test hundreds for the former English captain in Tests against Sri Lanka, and he equalled Pakistan’s Azhar Ali for third-most Test centuries against the Islanders. Sachin (9) and Younis Khan (8) are ahead of him. In the second inning, Root took the catch of Pathum Nissanka and also completed 200 catches in tests to equal Jacques Kallis with the third-most test catches. Rahul Dravid (210) and Mahela Jayawardene (205) are ahead of him only.
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