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Joe Root is widely considered one of, if not the absolute best of English Cricket. The talismanic right-handed batter has broken record after record in the longest format of the game, making the art of batsmanship look effortless and pleasing to the eye in a manner which very few players over generations have been able to. Since the turn of the decade, Root has become one of the most prolific batters in whites and has reaped the rewards of a plethora of runs. The ICC World Test Championship, introduced in 2019, has become the benchmark for the format, and Root became the beacon for batsmanship in the tournament, becoming the first batter to score 6,000 runs in WTC history.
Facing up against India at home, one of his more favoured opponents, Root had a slow start to the series, with low scores in the first two Tests, before roaring back to life with a century at Lord’s in a nervy England win, and following it up with one more at Old Trafford in the fourth Test. Motoring England’s innings in a chase of 374 at the Oval, Root reached the milestone while batting on 25, hitting Mohammed Siraj for a boundary. Despite England eventually going on to lose the game, Root scored another masterful century in the chase and finished the series as the Three Lions’ leading run-scorer with 537 runs at an average of 67.12, scoring a half-century and three centuries in the series.
Root has been the most prolific batter since the advent of the WTC formats. He finished as the second-highest run-scorer in the 2019-21 cycle, scoring 1660 runs at an average of 47.42, finishing just 15 runs behind Marnus Labuschagne at the top. His three centuries of the cycle came in tough away conditions, with a mammoth 228 in Galle against Sri Lanka, followed up by a 186 in the next game at the same venue. That was followed by another double century in Chennai against India, in his 100th Test match appearance. This run came during a time when he was juggling captaincy duties and single-handedly holding England together with the bat.
Root was at the top of the charts for the 2021-23 cycle, taking an immediate lead after three centuries in three games against India at home. A lean Ashes in Australia followed, but as the summer of 2022 wore on and Ben Stokes took over as skipper, Root looked freer, scoring centuries against New Zealand and India in the summer. He finished the cycle with 1915 runs in 22 matches, averaging 53.19 and scoring a whopping eight centuries.
The 2023-25 cycle has been Root’s best to date, scoring 1968 runs in 22 games, averaging 54.66 and scoring seven centuries. This included his highest Test score of 262 in Multan, where Root and fellow Yorkshireman Harry Brook put Pakistan to the sword in a historic Test match where England scored over 800 runs in their first innings. He leads the current cycle for runs as well, scoring 1108 runs in 13 games, with his average dropping to 48.17. He has scored five centuries, of which two came in Australia, an elusive milestone that was remaining on the resume of an already legendary cricketer.
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