{"id":21827,"date":"2025-07-25T19:20:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T19:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/21827\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T19:20:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T19:20:14","slug":"joe-root-hits-new-milestones-as-century-cements-england-dominance-against-india-england-v-india-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/21827\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Root hits new milestones as century cements England dominance against India | England v India 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was Joe Root<\/a> day in Manchester on Friday, where 20,000 people sat and admired a true master at work. Inevitable is a dangerous word in cricket, such is the fickle nature of the sport, and yet all that transpired felt as close to this as is possible: the likeliest of outcomes once Root \u00adgamboled out in the morning under an azure blue sky.<\/p>\n

The first expectation was that England, though still trailing India by 133 runs, would take full \u00adcontrol of this fourth Test match and, \u00adsitting 2-1 up, the series as a whole. Ben Stokes, Ben Duckett and Zak \u00adCrawley had inflicted such damage 24 hours \u00adearlier that it was going to take \u00adsomething \u00adremarkable from the tourists to turn things around.<\/p>\n

And there was also a strong \u00adsuspicion that Root, on 11, would probably end the day with only Sachin Tendulkar above him in the sport\u2019s all-time run-scoring charts. Compiling 150 from 248 balls, his 38th Test century and another for his personal Louvre, this was very much achieved, with a trio of all-time greats surpassed and his career tally now sitting at 13,409 runs. Tendulkar, who retired with 15,921, is now the final boss left to conquer.<\/p>\n

Not that Root seemed too fussed when, on the stroke of tea, he guided the increasingly innocuous Anshul Kamboj for a single behind square to move past Ricky Ponting\u2019s 13,378-run stash. If anything he was \u00adsheepish here, offering a little wave of the bat in appreciation of the crowd\u2019s applause as the numbers flashed up on the big\u00a0screen.<\/p>\n

But then Root is as team-first a cricketer as they come \u2014 No Ego Joe, if you will \u2014 and will probably have drawn more satisfaction from England\u2019s position at stumps. It was a pretty healthy one, too, the hosts closing on 544 for seven and leading by 186 runs. There is rain forecast on Sunday but Shubman Gill\u2019s men will need to get there first.<\/p>\n

There were support acts, of course; the Richard Ashcrofts to Root\u2019s Oasis. Ollie Pope made a frisky 71 that, over the course of 38 overs, added 144 for the third wicket alongside Root. Pope did not always exude a sense of permanence \u2013 he still jabs at the ball \u2013 but his role in a death-by-a-thousand-cuts morning of singles was important.<\/p>\n

And Stokes continued what is becoming very much his series, that long-awaited five-wicket haul<\/a> on day two followed by a punchy 77 not out. Though it was paused for a spell on 66 \u2013 a battle with cramp forcing him to retire hurt for a spell \u2013 the England captain will go into day three eyeing a first Test century for two years.<\/p>\n

Ben Stokes retired hurt then returned as he made his first half-century of the series. Photograph: Martin Rickett\/PA<\/p>\n

For India there was a brief spell in the afternoon when the door that Root and Pope were bolting shut creaked ajar just a slither. \u00adWashington Sundar made a mockery of his 68-over wait to have a bowl, with the drift witnessed at Lord\u2019s harnessed once more to see Pope jab to slip and have Harry Brook gormlessly stumped on three. \u00adEngland were 349 for four, still trailing by nine, and the second new ball was overdue.<\/p>\n

It was a fleeting pushback from the tourists, however, and soon their weary bodies started to fall apart. Jasprit Bumrah left the field after one over with the new ball due to an apparent ankle twinge. Mohammed Siraj got one delivery to rear up and clang Stokes in the box, only to soon follow his strike partner into the away dressing room with a hobble.<\/p>\n

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Both men eventually returned, to their credit, and while Stokes was off the field getting treatment there was a brief flurry of wickets to give the Indian supporters a few moments of cheer. The problem for them, \u00adhowever, was that among them was the sight of Chis Woakes being knocked over by a ball from Siraj that kept remarkably low. When India\u2019s time to bat again comes, it will be anything but straightforward.<\/p>\n

But as much as the tourists frayed at the edges on this third day, most teams would have struggled with Root in such a rich vein of form. The only real inconvenience came when he was eventually stumped off Jadeja in the evening \u00adsession, accidentally treading on the ball and, for a split second, giving rise to fears of something more sinister.<\/p>\n

That aside this was another \u00addisplay of Root\u2019s command of the crease, with his ability to pick up length early and manipulate the field to his will still so remarkably innate. A half-century from 93 balls, his c\u00adentury from 178 and little risk taken along the way. Provided Root stays fit and hungry enough \u2013 and the latter feels unlikely to diminish given his unbridled love for batting \u2013 he will surely top the lot one day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was Joe Root day in Manchester on Friday, where 20,000 people sat and admired a true master…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21828,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-21827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}