Birthday special: Top five knocks by Joe Root in international cricket
Over the past few years, England’s swashbuckling batsman Joe Root has established himself as one of the best of the modern era and one of the mainstays of England’s line-up across all the formats. Since his debut in December 2012 against India, Root has amassed 7823 Test runs in 97 matches along with 5962 runs in 149 ODI games. The batsman also boasts of having 893 T20I runs under his belt in 32 games. As he celebrates his 30th birthday on December 30, 2020, let’s take a look at the top 5 memorable knocks of his cricket career.
106* against New Zealand at Trent Bridge, 2015
Playing in the fourth game of the five-match ODI series against New Zealand at Trent Bridge in Nottingham in 2015, Root played a spectacular knock of unbeaten 106 runs off 97 deliveries while England were chasing the target of 350 runs. Root’s knock included 13 boundaries at a strike rate of 109.28. On the back of the centuries by Joe Root and Eoin Morgan (113 runs), the visiting nation easily scored 350 runs within 44 overs and won the game by 7 wickets.
133* against Bangladesh, 2017 Champions Trophy
England’s top-order batsman Joe Root had a spectacular start to his campaign in 2017 Champions Trophy as he hammered his highest ever score in ODIs till date, 133 runs, against Bangladesh in the first match of the tournament. Put to bat first, Bangladesh managed to post a total of 305 on the board at the Oval in London. Chasing this score, Root remained not-out at 133 runs off 129 deliveries as he helped his team win the game by 8 wickets.
254 against Pakistan at Old Trafford, 2016
Joe Root was on fire in the second game of the four-match Test series against Pakistan in Manchester in 2016 as he registered his highest-ever score. Batting first, England posted a whopping total of 589 on the board as Root slammed 254 runs with his willow. He struck not out 71 runs off 48 deliveries in the second innings as England declared their innings at 173. In reply, Pakistan could score only 198 and 234 runs across two innings respectively and lost the game by a massive 330 runs.
226 against New Zealand at Seddon Park, 2019
Joe Root had played a classic Test knock against New Zealand in the last Test of the two-match series at Seddon Park in 2019. Put to bat first, the hosts racked up a target of 375 on the board. In reply, Root launched an assault on the Black Caps bowling unit as he collected 226 runs with the help of 22 boundaries and 1 maximum. This resulted in England scoring 476 runs. However, the match resulted in a draw.
83 against South Africa, 2016 World Cup
The right-hander played one of the best knocks in his T20I career in the 2016 T20 World Cup against South Africa in a group game at Wankhede Stadium. Chasing the target of 229 posted by Africa on the board, Root played a sensational knock of 83 runs off 44 deliveries including 6 boundaries and 4 maximums as England won the game by 2 wickets.
