India vs England 2021, 1st Test: Joe Root's Special Stats In His 100th Test

While the hosts India and the visitors England have started the crucial four-match Test series with the Chennai Test, England Test captain Joe Root has started this Test series in a great fashion.

The Test series opener is the 100th Test match for the England Test captain Joe Root. His top-class batting in both the innings, especially in the first innings of this Test, has played a huge role for the visitors to provide a strong start for them in this tough Test series.

Joe Root’s top stats in the Test series opener against India at Chennai

i) Joe Root became the 15th England player to appear in 100 Test matches.

ii) England Test captain Joe Root scored 218 runs in the first innings of his 100th Test match.

– Stats for 100th Test match

• Root became the first batsman to score a double-century in 100th Test match. The previous best innings record in 100th Test match was 184 by former Pakistan cricketer Inzamam-ul-Haq against India at Bengaluru in March 2005.
• Root became the third English cricketer to score a century in 100th Test match. The first two England cricketers in this list were Sir Colin Cowdrey (104 vs Australia at Edgbaston in July 1968) and Alec Stewart (105 vs West Indies at Old Trafford in August 2000).
• Root became the ninth cricketer to score a century in 100th Test match.

– Stats as a captain

• Root became the second England Test captain to score a double-century against India. The record is 333 by Graham Gooch at Lord’s in 1990.
• Root also became the second visiting captain to score a Test double-century in India. Former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd was the first visiting Test captain to hit a double-century in India as he scored 242 not out during 1975 Mumbai Test.
• Also, the knock of 218 was the third-highest individual score for an England Test captain at the away venues (only home of the opposition). Root is also holding the top two records with 228 (against Sri Lanka at Galle in 2021) and 226 (against New Zealand at Hamilton in 2019).
• Root scored his third double-century as a Test captain and he scored all these outside England. Equalling the record of former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming, Root became the second most double-centurion as a Test captain outside the home soil. Former South African captain Graeme Smith is holding this record with 4 Test double-centuries as a captain outside the home soil.

– Stats as a player

• It is the highest individual score (218) for an English batsman in a Test innings in India. While Root became the third English batsman to hit a Test double-century in India, the other two cricketers were Mike Gatting (207) and Graeme Fowler (201) both at Chennai in 1985.

iii) In his 100th Test match, Joe Root scored a total of 258 runs. After scoring 240 runs in the first innings, Root scored 40 runs during his team’s second innings.

– Stats for 100th Test match

• It is the second-highest aggregate score for a batsman in his 100th Test match. The record is 263 (120 & 143*) by former Australian cricketer Ricky Ponting against South Africa at Sydney in January 2006.

– Stats as a captain

• The 258 runs were the second-highest aggregate score (258) for a visiting Test captain in India. Former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd is the record holder in this list with 279 runs (242* & 37) at Mumbai in 1975.

• It was the fourth-highest aggregate score (258) for an English Test captain.

– Stats as a player

• It was the third-highest aggregate score (258) for an English batsman in a Test match against India. The top two records in this list are 456 (333+123) by Graham Gooch (at Lord’s in 1990) and 294 (294) by Alastair Cook (at Birmingham in 2011).

iv) At the end of this match, Joe Root has scored 8507 Test runs. He is now the third most Test run-scorer for England. The top two names in this list are Alastair Cook (12472 runs) and Graham Gooch (8900 runs).

v) Joe Root has scored 6768 international runs at away venues (only home of the opposition). Surpassing Alastair Cook (6613 runs), Root becomes the leading international run-scorer for England at away venues. 

vi) Joe Root has scored 3913 Test runs as a captain. Surpassing Mike Atherton (3815 runs), Root became the second most run-scorer for England as a Test captain. Alastair Cook is holding this record with 4844 runs as a Test captain.