Joe Root smashes 19th career Test ton: Records broken
England captain Joe Root scored a valiant century in the ongoing second Test against Sri Lanka. Root, who smashed 228 in the first Test, brought up his 19th century in the format. The right-handed batsman has been the rock for England in the second Test, bailing them out from a position of bother. Here we present the records scripted by Root.
England, who dismissed Sri Lanka for 381, were rooted at 5/2. Root shared a defiant stand with Jonny Bairstow to make sure England remain unscathed at stumps (98/2). England lost Bairstow and Daniel Lawrence early on Day 3 to be pegged back at 132/4. However, Root has continued to bat on, playing an aggressive knock. He is being supported by Jos Buttler.
Root smashed his 19th Test century, equaling the tally amassed by former England legend Leonard Hutton. Notably, this was Root's eighth Test century away from home and a third in Sri Lanka. Playing his 99th match, Root surpassed the tally of Geoffrey Boycott (8,114) in terms of career Test runs. He could also surpass Kevin Pietersen (8,181) next to be England's fifth-highest run-scorer.
Playing his 10th Test match against Sri Lanka, Root went past 900 runs at an average of over 60. The senior batsman is now the third-highest scorer for England in Tests against Sri Lanka. He has the second-highest number of centuries in Sri Lanka-England Test matches (4) and is only behind Mahela Jayawardene (8).
This is the first time that Root has scored hundreds in successive Tests. It's the first time he's made two in a series since the 2015 Ashes. Alastair Cook is now the only England batsman with more Test hundreds in Asia than Root. Notably, the England captain has scored close to 50% of the team's runs in the ongoing series.
Test century No.1⃣9⃣ for the England skipper, his fourth against Sri Lanka!
— ICC (@ICC) January 24, 2021
No other 🏴 batsman has scored more Test hundreds against 🇱🇰 than Joe Root 👏#SLvENG | https://t.co/BtLz95cMXH pic.twitter.com/SkxuRUmdY5
