Root’s masterful 150 frustrates bowlers as England put on a mammoth 544-7 to stretch their lead to 186 on Day 3
England’s Joe Root celebrates his century against India at Old Trafford, Manchester, on Friday. PICS/GETTY IMAGES
Joe Root (150) headlined another day of English dominance at Old Trafford as hosts buried insipid India under an avalanche of runs in the fourth Test. At stumps, England were 544-7. The former captain skipped past Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting, in that order, to become Test cricket’s second most prolific run-getter (13,409), behind the peerless Sachin Tendulkar, to celebrate a magnificent 38th century, his second of the series, on a warm, run-drenched Friday.
Jadeja, Sundar strike late
With conditions ideal for batting until spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar — strangely not introduced until the 69th over despite his four-wicket haul in the second innings at Lord’s — found purchase late in the day, England amassed a total of massive proportions with every batter in the top six except Harry Brook filling their boots.
India pacer Mohammed Siraj (left) wears a tired look while bowling in Manchester on Friday
Ollie Pope (71) must be kicking himself for not going on to three-figures even as skipper Ben Stokes (77 not out) brought up his first half-century of the series before being forced to retire hurt with cramps, England breezing past 500.
Bumrah, Siraj toil
India were never in the game from the time England kicked on from 225-2. Shardul Thakur, used sparingly the previous day, got the first over of the morning but that was merely to allow Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj to change ends. Both premier quicks were tidy in their opening bursts without posing too many problems, and once the overnight pair saw them off, batting became a lot easier. Bumrah toiled for 23 overs before tasting success when he had Jamie Smith caught behind.
For reasons best known to him, Shubman Gill kept Washington’s off-spin off the firing line until 19 minutes before lunch. Until then, the only half-chance the Indians created was when Anshul Kamboj extracted a glove from Pope on 48 which Dhruv Jurel, standing up, could not cling on to.
Washington took just 19 deliveries to produce the day’s first breakthrough in the second over after lunch, defeating Pope with his drift and extracting an outside edge to a drive that was smartly held by KL Rahul at slip. Pope’s third-wicket stand of 144 with Root snapped, India struck again through Washington, with the drift the undoing of Brook too, lured out of his crease and walking past the ball.
12
Number of Test centuries scored by Joe Root against India — the most by any player, surpassing Steve Smith (11)
13,409
Total number of runs scored by Joe Root in Test cricket — the second most after Sachin Tendulkar’s 15,921
Brief scores
India 358 all out vs England 544-7 (J Root 150, B Duckett 94, Z Crawley 84, B Stokes 77*, O Pope 71; W Sundar 2-57, R Jadeja 2-117)
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