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Joe Root seems to be in the form of his life, having scored 10 hundreds in his last 22 Test matches. The former England captain looked sublime during his innings of 176 against New Zealand in the ongoing second Test at Trent Bridge in Nottingham. On Sunday, Joe Root swaggered through to his quickest century in the longest format, achieving the three-figure mark in only 116 balls. The 31-year-old batter's heroics in the second game after his match-winning unbeaten knock of 115 in the previous match at Lord's. But when the fans thought there was nothing more to come from Joe Root, he gave them plenty to cheer as he played an absurd shot – a reverse scoop for a huge six against Kiwi fast bowler Tim Southee on Monday. Surprisingly, it was Joe Root's first six in whites since the Chennai Test last year when he had scored a brilliant hundred against India. As soon as Root played the shot and it landed in the stands, the former England captain's name began trending on social media, and fans were quick to compare Root's audacious strike to Rishabh Pant's reverse sweep against James Anderson in the 2021 Ahmedabad Test. Unlike Joe Root who smacked the ball for a maximum, Rishabh Pant could only score a boundary on the lanky pacer's full-length delivery.
Joe Root scooping Tim Southee for six 🤯 #ENGvNZ pic.twitter.com/ZQLzK31aZk
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) June 13, 2022
“Unbelievable, unbelievable from Joe Root. He has scooped Tim Southee and I'm fairly certain that has gone all the way for six. This morning he said ‘I'm looking to take batting into new areas, don't worry about the fact it's a Test match you're going to see something a little bit different from me from time to time,” former England captain Michael Atherton said on Sky Sports.
“We saw it yesterday when he tried to whip and sweep Southee through the leg side. Well, this is right out of the one-day playbook,” Atherton added.
Meanwhile, New Zealand speedster Simon Doull called Joe Root's shot as “outrageous”
“This is outrageous… and so good to watch. Tim Southee just turned around and thought ‘I do not know what has just happened,” he said on commentary for the British network.
Oh my Joe Root you cannot do that, what a shot. Rishabh Pant esque
— TheCricketMen (@thecricketmen) June 13, 2022
I thought Rishabh Pant reverse sweeping Anderson on off stump was outrageous but Jesus christ Joe Root you are different gravy #ENGvsNZ
— Bryn Holland (@Piggsy_Malone) June 13, 2022
This is absurd pic.twitter.com/aJV9vopQDs
— Greg James (@gregjames) June 13, 2022
Earlier in the day, Joe Root was marching along nicely towards a sixth double ton in red-ball cricket before he was dismissed by Kiwi left-armer Trent Boult. As Root was walking off the ground, the crowd gave him a standing ovation. He amassed 176 runs off 211 balls during his fastest knock in Test cricket.
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During the weekend, Joe Root joined Virat Kohli and Steve Smith to become the third active cricketer to complete 27 Test centuries. Remarkably, Virat Kohli has not gone past triple-digits since November 2019 and Steve Smith hasn't made a ton since January 2021.
But Joe Root has been on fire with the bat, especially since he relinquished the England captaincy in April. It was his second successive ton in as many games after being freed from the burden of his nation's top job in the sport.
While Joe Root earned plaudits for his stunning hit off Tim Southee today, yesterday it was his chanceless hundred that got him praise from several former cricketers.
“We have witnessed Batting poetry today. That Joe Root innings was as good as it gets .. early days for this Test team but I have to say I am rather enjoying it,” Vaughan said on Twitter.
On the other hand, British broadcaster Piers Morgan wanted to sexually identify himself as “Joe Root’s cover drive”.
“I’d like to sexually identify as Joe Root’s cover drive,” Morgan tweeted.
“27th Test match hundred for England’s finest Joe Root. His fourth hundred in five Test matches. He is the unstoppable run machine,” former England captain Nasser Hussain said in the commentary box.
At Lord's, Joe Root became the second Englishman to breach the 10,000-run barrier.
Many ex-players, including former Australia captain Mark Taylor and ex-England skipper Michael Vaughan, have backed him to break India legend Sachin Tendulkar’s all-time record for most runs in Test cricket.
“Joe Root is England's best ever – now Sachin Tendulkar should watch out. For me Joe Root stands alongside Graham Gooch as England's greatest batsmen and the way he is going he could surpass Sachin Tendulkar’s record for the most Test runs,” Vaughan wrote for the British newspaper The Telegraph.
“He is still 6000 short of Sachin’s total but he is only 31 and if James Anderson can play until he is 40 then I think Joe can too. He loves batting that much. He is driven. He is a cricket badger. You have to have it in you to wake up every morning and think about batting,” Vaughan added.
With the help of his latest innings, Root now has 10,191 runs in Test cricket. The Indian legend, meanwhile, finished his career with 15,921 in 200 Tests.
