Ind vs Eng: Joe Root to play his 100th Test on February 5

As England skipper Joe Root comes on the field on February 5 at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, he will mark his 100th Test match. Root, 30, will become the 15th England player to achieve the milestone.

Incidentally Root made his debut against India in 2012 in Nagpur. The Yorkshire lad came in at number six and scored 73 in the first innings and 20 in the second that steered England home. It was a historic series for England. The calm and composed assassin is still earning his stripes. 

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Now after nine years, Root is faster to play the 100th Test than his counterparts- Virat Kohli (87), Kane Williamson (83) and Steve Smith (77). He is also the first one to cross 8000 Test runs. In 99 matches he has smashed 8249 runs and averages 49.10.

“It is a real achievement because of the longevity of it. You need a good sense of humour to play that amount of cricket, because you will experience highs but there will be some moments in there where you have your lows,” England’s batting coach Graham Thorpe on Joe Root’s special achievement. Thorpe also played 100 Tests.

He is the spearhead of England to play the game on the spinning tracks in India. In their recent series against Sri Lanka, Root scored 426 runs in two Tests and clubbed his fourth Test double ton.

His teammate Jos Buttler spoke on Root’s significance in the team against India. “Joe was in fantastic form in India. He has always had a brilliant game in playing spin bowling. One of the best exponents of sweep shots which is obviously a big strength when playing against spin. It is obviously very hard to keep the dot balls away. He has so many options to score. He scores quickly and rotates the strike,” Buttler said.