Steve Smith Reacts On Joe Root's Magnificent Hundred Against India In The Nottingham Test

Champion Australian batsman Steve Smith has lauded Ashes rival and England skipper Joe Root for his brilliant hundred in the second innings of the Nottingham Test against a quality Indian attack.

Joe Root, on Saturday, played an innings of the highest class under extreme pressure as he dug his team out of a hole to set India a target of 209 in the final innings of the Test.

Root came to the crease at a time when England had already lost a couple of wickets and they were 39 runs in arrears.

However, on a bright and sunny day and on a pitch that seemed to have flattened out, Root played a brilliant counterattacking knock to peg the Indians back.

Root brought his 4th hundred of the year and his first in England since the 2018 summer with a sublime drive down the ground and the way he celebrated- both hands in the air followed by a pump of fist and a guttural roar- just showed how much this knock meant to him.

Joe Root has been brilliant this calendar year. He smashed a double ton and a daddy hundred in Galle during the winter to help England beat Sri Lanka 2-0

He then followed it up with another double ton in the series opener against India which paved way for a 227-run win for the visitors.

Root endured a dip in form in the last three Tests in India and against New Zealand earlier in the summer but the England Test skipper has started the Indian series with a bang, having racked up a fifty and a hundred.

Steve Smith lauded Root for setting the game up for England with a brilliant hundred besides acknowledging the Yorkshire-born cricketer’s brilliant form this year.

Smith also reckoned that Root may have made some changed to his technique as his balance is looking extremely good.

“Yeah, it was a terrific hundred, obviously setting the game for the final day.  In the last six months, he has been in incredible form. Looks like he has changed something in his set-up, and his balance is really good.  He is batting exceptionally well,” said Steve Smith during a Q/A session on Instagram.

5. Smith on Root's century in on going Ind vs eng 1st test pic.twitter.com/lYjdp5NVNR

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