WHERE WOULD WE BE WITHOUT YOU,JOE?
THE moment the ball left his bat, Joe Root knew what was coming. As he eased Shardul Thakur down the ground for the boundary that brought up one of his most accomplished Test hundreds, he let out a roar — and Trent Bridge roared with him.
It is hardly a secret that Root is England’s only world-class batsman, but status is no guarantee of success, and yesterday they needed him like never before.
Given all that has gone on in the past week — from the indefinite absence of Ben Stokes via Jofra Archer’s elbow problems to England’s first-day collapse — Root might have wondered which way the wind was blowing. To score his 21st Test century and, almost incredibly, his first at home in nearl y t hr e e years , was t he response of a champion.
As a result, England will go into the final day of a match in which they have been outplayed for large chunks with at least a hope of victory.
India will fancy their chances, too, and by stumps were 52 for one in pursuit of the 209 they require to take a 1-0 lead in this five-match series.
Without Root, who has scored 173 runs in a game where no team-mate has passed 32, that lead would already be in the bag.
England’s captain may have felt a familiar sensation as he walked out inside the day’s first half hour. Rory Burns and Zak Crawley had come and gone, and India were still 49 in front. Had Root fallen early, his team’ s chances might have departed with him, inviting more opprobrium after their last seven tumbled for 45 on Wednesday. He was in no mood for a repeat.
Busy at first, he eased his third ball from Mohammed Shami through extra cover, and quickly overhauled Dom Sibley. There was a skittish 20 minutes before lunch, as if he was suddenly aware of his burden, but a 68-ball half-century was the perfect riposte.
By the time Sibley was caught behind off the inside edge for 28 from 133 mainly forgettable deliveries, Root had contributed 71 to a stand of 89, and England had the lead.
For a while, as the advantage swung back and forth, he let others do the heavy lifting. Jonny Bairstow made 30 in a partnership of 42, before hammering a pull straight to deep square leg and receiving a finger-on-lips send-off from Mohammed Siraj, who seems to spend a lot of his time picking fights.
Dan Lawrence then scored 25 in a stand of 34, only to play round his front pad to Thakur, who in the first over after tea bowled Jos Buttler, offering no shot, for 17.
England’s lead was a precarious 142, and Root had 96 — plots and sub- plots of the kind Test cricket does so well.
Two loud lbw shouts later, he brought the spectators to their feet, and it needed a peach from Jasprit Bumrah, armed with the second new ball, to take his outside edge on 109.
Bumrah would finish with five wickets in the innings and nine in the match, but a late flurry from Sam Curran ensured India would be chasing 35 more than they have ever made to win a Test in this country.
The day, though, was all about Root, who has now scored 1,064 Test runs this year, more than anyone in the world.
No statistic better sums up his supremacy than the fact that England’s next- highest scorer i s Lawrence, miles behind on 354. And of England’s five hundreds in their nine Tests so far in 2021, Root has four. There are one-man bands that feel more collaborative.
As if to secure his legacy, Root went past some big names, passing the Test tallies of VVS Laxman, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Javed Miandad, and finishing on 8,887, only 13 behind Graham Gooch. The only Englishman beyond that is Alastair Cook. First, Root must make a different kind of history: if England win today, he will have a national-record 27 Test victories as captain, one more than Michael Vaughan.
And they were given a good start when Stuart Broad claimed his first wicket of an otherwise quiet Test, producing a beauty to have KL Rahul caught behind for 26. The out-of-form Cheteshwar Pujara almost followed soon after, only for a thick inside edge off Broad to balloon off his pads and drop to safety on the leg side. A pair of boundaries off Ollie Robinson in the last over of the day eased his — and India’s — nerves. England have lost none of the previous 20 Tests in which Root has made a century. A couple of early wickets today—preferably including Virat Kohli, who will start on a pair — and he will believe it is a record that can remain intact.