England batter Joe Root continued his prolific run of form in ODIs as he smashed an unbeaten 76 in the series opener against India at Edgbaston, Birmingham. This was his eighth score of fifty or more against India in ODIs.
Root has now produced four successive ODI innings of 60 or more. Before his latest knock, he had made 61, 75 and an unbeaten 111 in his previous three outings.
Coming in to bat at No. 3, Root played the role of the sheet anchor to perfection. He held the innings together and was the chief architect of England’s total of 259 after they had been reduced to 107/6. Despite starting slowly, he finished with a strike rate of 100. His innings was laced with six fours and a six.
Even with wickets falling at regular intervals, Root remained calm and chose to bat deep into the innings. The seasoned campaigner found an able partner in Liam Dawson as the pair put on a 121-run stand. It was England’s highest seventh-wicket partnership against India in ODIs. Dawson took more risks than Root and reached his half-century before the 35-year-old batter.
In the remaining two ODIs, Root will have the chance to become the third England batter to score more than 1,000 ODI runs against India. He currently has 927 runs from 26 ODI matches.
The post IND vs ENG: Joe Root extends purple patch with another top knock appeared first on Sports News Portal | Revsportz.
