If breaking records is an art, Joe Root is arguably the Picasso of it in world cricket at the moment. He has been in terrific form in the ongoing five-match Test series against India, breaking several records on the way. In the fifth Test at The Oval, even though he failed to get going, scoring 29 runs, Root broke Kumar Sangakkara’s record for most runs against India in international cricket. He currently stands third on the list.
Notably, Root has amassed 4290 runs against India in international cricket, while Sangakkara made 4287. The first and second spots belong to Ricky Ponting and Mahela Jayawardene, having scored 4795 and 4563 runs, respectively. It won’t be an easy task for him to surpass Ponting on the list, but it won’t be an impossible task either.
Mohammed Siraj gets better of Root
India lost a few quick wickets to start Day 2 of the fifth Test, as the visitors were bundled for 224 runs. Gus Atkinson wreaked havoc in the morning session, picking up a five-wicket haul. Meanwhile, the Shubman Gill-led side struggled with the ball in the following innings as the England openers looked flawless for the majority of the time.
Ben Duckett made 43 runs off just 38 deliveries, while Zak Crawley hit 64 runs off 57 balls. Akash Deep and Prasidh Krishna picked up the wickets, respectively. Following which, Mohammed Siraj wreaked havoc, picking up three crucial wickets of Ollie Pope, Joe Root and Jacob Bethell. Soon after that, Prasidh sent Jamie Smith back to the pavilion.
Despite a few quick wickets, England seem to have the upper hand and will be looking to take a significant lead in the first innings. With Chris Woakes being ruled out, the visitors will be hoping to clear the tail early, but the likes of Jamie Overton and Atkinson are decent batters as well.