JOE THE GENIUS

Cook: Goochy and me are on borrowed time in legends list... Root’s not stopping!

WITH superlatives running out for the brilliance of Joe Root, the England skipper was branded ‘a genius’ by the man he is on course to catch.

A fifth double-hundred for Root put him out on his own as the only man to make such a remarkable score in their 100th Test, and together with Kumar Sangakkara they are the only men to have scored more than 180 in three successive matches.

That is the rarified air Root was sucking in as he made his way back to the pavilion with 218 to his name, and another England legend chalked off his list.

Alec Stewart was the latest to be overtaken by Root, who has seen himself move from eighth on England’s all-time ranking of run scorers at the start of the year, to third now – with only Graham Gooch and Sir Alastair Cook ahead of him.

And casting an eye over Root’s innings from the Channel 4 studio, Cook knows the writing is already on the wall for his own personal record of 12,472.

“I won’t have that record for long,” said Cook.

“He’ll go past Goochie and catch up with me because he is so good.

“We’re watching a genius play and he is just batting brilliantly. What more can you say about Joe Root?

“He has knocked off four names in about two weeks the way he’s been batting. It has been a joy to watch and he has set the perfect example.

“This innings was an absolute masterclass from Joe, he didn’t look in any trouble whatsoever.

“He battered the Indian bowlers into submission on the second day of the game and the greatest compliment they paid him was that they asked their opening batsman to have a go at getting him out because their bowlers couldn’t.”

Cook (right) was referring to the two overs

Rohit Sharma sent down as Virat Kohli pondered just how he and his team were going to stop, not only the best player of spin England have ever produced, but arguably the best non-Asian batsman to play on the subcontinent. That is a big call of course, but even if you don’t believe your eyes and the way he is able to manipulate the ball off the front and back foot, Root’s numbers stack up against the best. He is already the sixth-highest non-Asian run scorer on the continent, but has played at least eight fewer matches than those still above him.

Root batted for 24 minutes shy of 10 hours in the searing heat and put his side in control of the match at 477-6.

Five years earlier England had been dismissed for 477 only to go on and LOSE the match by an innings as India responded with something even bigger. Root appears to have learnt a valuable lesson from that tour and clearly intends to give India absolutely nothing to latch onto this time around as the total ticked over 550 by the close of day two.

“There was no thought whatsoever of a declaration on the second day,” confirmed vice-captain Ben Stokes.

“That would be stupid. If you win the toss and bat first, you just get as many runs as you can out here in India.”

Root shared two important partnerships, with Stokes and Ollie Pope – both playing in their first games of the year.

Stokes had an IPL and T20 trip to South Africa behind him, but for Pope, his 34 will have been a huge relief following shoulder surgery.