Joe Root has been playing international cricket from 2012 and for 10 years he has ruled international cricket and scored heaps of runs for England. He has played 124 test matches till now and he has scored 10504 runs at an average of 50.02 and he has made 28 Test hundreds and 5 double Hundreds. He has also played 158 ODIs and has made 6207 runs at an average of 50.06 with 16 hundreds and he has played 32 T20IS for England and has made 890 runs.
Let’s look at his best performances.
1. 254 vs Pakistan (2016)
This is the highest score by Joe Root in test cricket and it came against Pakistan in 2016 and this was one of the best test innings by an England batter. England were batting first in this test match and Joe Root came to bat at number 3 and he batted for 406 balls and made 254 runs and he hit 27 fours in this innings meaning a total of 108 runs in boundaries. His strike rate was 62.56 and England won this test match by a whopping 330 runs mainly due to his efforts.
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2. 226 vs New Zealand (2019)
The second performance on this list is an innings he played against New Zealand in 2019 and this time he was getting to his peak. England were replying to the New Zealand innings and at number 3 came out Joe Root and he just started hitting runs and never allowed the New Zealand bowling to settle. He batted for a mammoth 441 balls and he hit 22 fours and 1 six meaning a total of 94 runs in boundaries. He was brilliant in this match and the match ended in a draw but it was a special away double hundred for him.
3. 218 vs India (2021)
This was one of his best double Hundreds because it came in away conditions in India and he established himself as the best of his generation in this match. England were batting first and he came to bat at number 3 and from there on it was one way traffic as Joe Root just got on top of the Indian bowling attack and he played for 377 balls and hit 19 fours and 2 sixes in this innings. His strike rate was 57.82 and England won this test match by 227 runs and Joe Root would go on to score lots of runs from here on.
4. 176 vs New Zealand (2022)
The fourth performance on this list is from this year vs New Zealand and this was an unlike Joe Root innings and he batted like it was an ODI Match. New Zealand made a big score of 553 in the first innings and England replied with authority and at number 3 Joe Root only took 211 balls to make 176 runs and he smashed 26 fours and 1 six meaning a total of 110 runs in boundaries. His strike rate was a staggering 83.41 and due to the aggressive batting approach from England they won the match by 5 wickets.
5. 133* vs Bangladesh (2017)
This is the highest score by Joe Root in ODI cricket and it came in an important chase against Bangladesh when England were chasing 306 in 50 overs. In at number 3 he came and from there it was smooth sailing for England because from one end he held the crease and hit shots and from the other end the other batters played their shots. In 129 balls he made 133* and he hit 11 fours and 1 six and his strike rate was 103.10 meaning he ran a lot and England won the match by a whopping 8 wickets.
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6. 180* vs India at Lord’s, 2021
Root's torment of the Indian bowlers continued, this time in his own backyard. After a ton in the first Test at Nottingham, Root followed it up with a knock of the highest order in the second Test at Lord's. After India had posted 364 in the first innings, the pressure was on the then-England skipper to hold together the English batting line-up. Displaying his craft, Root scored an unbeaten 180* in 321 deliveries, with 18 boundaries, staying out in the middle for 533 minutes. This was one of the best knocks of Joe Root as it came against a pace quartet of Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj on a pitch that was aiding the seamers. The knock helped England take a small but valuable first innings lead. Unfortunately for Root, a collapse in the second innings saw the hosts crumbling to a 151-run defeat.
7. 228 vs Sri Lanka, 2021
Root started 2021 off with a bang against Sri Lanka in Galle. On a track that was assisting the spinners, Root showcased his class with a marathon knock of 228 off only 321 deliveries. His sheer brilliance helped the visitors take a massive first- innings lead – England bowled out Sri Lanka for 135 before posting 421 courtesy of Root's knock. His innings consisted of 18 fours and 1 six, batting in the middle for 476 minutes in the sweltering heat. The knock proved to be a match-winning one, with England comfortably winning the contest by seven wickets, chasing down a target of 74.
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8. 115* vs New Zealand, 2022
Playing in his first game after giving up the captaincy, Root proved that he was still the most vital cog in the England team with his heroics against New Zealand in the first Test. The visitors set England a challenging target of 277 to chase down – a tough feat with the quality of bowlers at their disposal and the poor run of form that the hosts were enduring. England were already four down with only 69 runs on the board. But Root then stitched together two vital partnerships, first a 90- run stand with skipper Ben Stokes and then an unbeaten 120*-run effort with Ben Foakes. His magical knock of 115* came in only 170 deliveries against the threat of Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson. His heroics helped England snap their streak of 9 matches without a victory, starting off the Ben Stokes era with a bang.
9. 190 vs South Africa, 2017
In the first of a four Test matches against South Africa, the Yorkshire batsmen had won his first toss and elected to bat first, which looked to be the wrong decision when after just 5.2 overs, England found themselves 17-2. However, showing a touch of class, Root managed to reach the Lord’s Honours Boards for the third time, hitting 190 off just 234 balls – the highest score by an England batsman in their first game as captain – with his country finishing their innings with a total of 458. Root then led his side to victory with Moeen Ali finishing the match with figures of 10/112 to defeat South Africa by 211 runs.
10. 124 vs Sri Lanka, 2018
His sublime century set up the team's series-clinching victory in the second Test against Sri Lanka on Sunday. Root’s 124 in the second innings came at a crucial juncture for England who had conceded a first-innings lead of 46 and were then reduced to 109 for four. Having implored his team to play bold and courageous cricket in Sri Lanka, where England had not won a series since 2001, the 27-year- old then showed how to do it on a turning track. A nimble footed root often danced down the wicket and used both the traditional and reverse sweep shots to negate the Sri Lankan spinners, hitting 10 fours and two sixes in his knock.
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