Picture Credit: Twitter/@englandcricket
Former England skipper Joe Root has been in brilliant form in the ongoing Test series against New Zealand. The stylish batter recently completed his 10,000 runs and joined the elite list of greatest batters to grace the game. Root, who recently quit England's captaincy following poor results in Ashes 2021-22 and the West Indies tour, stunned everyone with his performance against the Kiwis as he scored his 26th Test century during the first Test match.
After guiding England to pull off a stunning victory in the series opener, Root smashed his fastest century in the second Test and equalled the likes of Virat Kohli and Australia's Steve Smith, the other two best batters in the current crop with 27 tons. Root continued from where he left the first Test at Lord's, as he took only 116 balls to reach his fastest Test ton.
While Root continued to impress everyone with his sublime form, he amazed the cricket fraternity as he played a gutsy reverse scoop shot against Tim Southee for a six. As New Zealand's experienced pacer Tim Southee came out to bowl the third over of the day, Root, who is rated among the most technically sound batter fearlessly played the reverse scoop straight out of the limited-overs book to send the ball for a maximum.
Root's shot surprised everyone as even commentators were left shocked after seeing the classy batter playing the 'modern' shot which is usually seen in white-ball cricket.
Check out Root's stroke here:
The former England skipper has also become the 12th highest run-scorer in Test cricket history by upstaging Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar's tally of 10,122 runs. In fact, Root became the joint youngest to achieve the milestone alongside former teammate Alastair Cook as both of them were aged 31 years, 157 days when they breached the 10,000 mark.