Joe Root continued his great form in 2021 as he blasted his third consecutive century to enhance his reputation as one of the best players for England in Asia. The England skipper scored his 20th century in his 100th Test and he joined an elite list. However, during the fag end of the day, Joe Root was plagued with cramps. At the end of the day, Joe Root hit Ravi Ashwin for a six. After hitting the shot, Jor Root couldn’t bear the pain and fell down with cramps. He was struggling for proper movement. Noticing that Joe Root was struggling, Virat Kohli, who was fielding at slip, quickly reached out to Root and asked if he needed some help. After a brief chat between the two players, Kohli aided Root by holding his leg up in the air.
This act of sportsmanship received tremendous appreciation on social media. Many people pointed out in 2015 when MS Dhoni helped Faf du Plessis overcome cramps during the Mumbai ODI. The official Instagram handle of the International Cricket Council (ICC) also lauded Kohli by sharing a snap of the aforementioned incident with the caption, “When England captain Joe Root was struck with cramps, Virat Kohli was the first to his aid. A heartwarming Spirit of Cricket gesture.”
However, Stuart Broad cheekily took a dig at the ICC by saying that everyone should be acknowledged. When Joe Root was struggling, it was Stuart Broad who ran out and gave him a drink. Broad, who is not playing this Test, stated, “I ran a drink out too, spirit of cricket award?”
Joe Root in top form
Joe Root became the seventh player in the history of Test cricket to hit three consecutive scores of 150+. Tom Latham of New Zealand in the 2018/19 season hit 264, 176 and 161 in two Tests against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Mudassar Nazar of Pakistan in 1983 hit 231, 152* and 152 against India in their series at home. Zaheer Abbas of Pakistan also hit 215, 186 and 168 in three consecutive Tests against India in 1982/83. Sir Don Bradman, the greatest of all time, hit 270, 212 and 169 in the 1937 series against England which Australia won 3-2 after being trailing the series 0-2.
#SpiritOfCricket at its very best#INDvENG @Paytm | @imVkohli pic.twitter.com/vaEdH29VXo
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 5, 2021
England’s Wally Hammond also scored three consecutive 150+ scores when he hit 251, 200 and 177 in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide in 1928/29. However, it is Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka who tops the list with four consecutive 150+ scores in a remarkable streak in 2007. In the Bangladesh Tests in Colombo and Kandy, he hit 200* and 222*. In Hobart, he hit 192 in the second innings and when he returned to Sri Lanka, Sangakkara hit 152 against England in Kandy. In his last three innings, Joe Root has hit 228, 186 and now another 150. In fact, out of Joe Root’s 20 centuries, 10 of them are more than 150+. However, his conversion troubles in the last two years meant that he has 49 fifties as well, much worse than the trio of Kane Williamson, Virat Kohli and Steve Smith.