To claim that 2021 has been England’s best year for England skipper Joe Root would be an understatement. To put things into perspective, he has scored 35% of England’s Test runs this year and has also attained 6 out of 7 centuries by England batsmen. He has scored 1419 runs at a staggering average of 67.57 including 6 centuries.
Joe Root has established himself as the England Test team’s backbone. Since the departure of Sir Alastair Cook, England has tried everyone from Jason Roy to Dominic Sibley, but they still haven’t found a replacement for him. Despite England’s openers’ continuing struggles, Joe Root is unconcerned. Since 2019, he has averaged 57.64 per game.
Joe Root, among England’s top test batsmen
Joe Root is current the second-highest run-scorer for England, only behind Alastair Cook. He averages around 50, which is the best of them all. He is still just 30 years old and expected to be an all-time great at the end of his career.
Root performance after Cook’s retirement
He has been carrying a load of England batting since Cook’s departure in 2018. Since Cook’s retirement. There has been increased pressure on Root, as evidenced by his record. He had his lowest test average in the 2019 season, where he only scored 851 runs at an average of 37. But strong comebacks are the features of top batsmen and that is what Joe Root did. Joe is currently batting in his league and has scored maximum runs all-around in the world in 2021.
2021: A dream year for Joe Root
2021 has been a record-breaking year for Joe Root. He is now the quickest to 9000 Test runs. In terms of days taken, surpassing Cook’s record of 9 years and 93 days. He attained the milestone in only eight years and 244 days after his debut.
The century against India at Leeds was Root’s sixth in Tests in 2021, making him the first England skipper to have that many in a calendar year and also breaking Bell’s record of five centuries in 2011. He also holds the record for the most century in Tests against India in England vs. India Test matches. He now has eight hundred, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and Alastair Cook, who all have seven.
As the chart below shows, he is far ahead of everyone in terms of international test runs in 2021. The failure of his teammates has not dampened his determination. Rohit Sharma’s comeback in Test cricket has helped him secure second place.
Root vs other England Batsmen in 2021
There are two ways to describe England’s batsmen in the year 2021. Joe Root has had a fantastic year, while his teammates have had a terrible year to date. Whereas others have struggled on the opposite end, he has scored more than 30% of his team runs. Take, for example, the recent completion of the Lord’s Test. England lost by 151 runs despite Root scoring 41.5 percent of his team’s runs with an unbeaten 180* in the first inning.
As the graph shows, no one comes close to Joe in terms of runs scored. He has 1419 runs, whereas another batsman has failed to reach the 500-run level. In 2021, he also has 6 tons under his belt, while Rory Burns is the only other batsman to reach the three-figure mark once.
This data may raise two questions. The first is whether this is due to Joe Root’s exceptional batting talents or poor batting by other batters. Well, it’s a combination of both. England have played the majority of their matches against top-tier sides such as India and New Zealand, both of which have a variety of world-class bowlers. While Root has been in good form, other batters have struggled in difficult conditions against these quality bowlers.
Joe Root is one of the prime reasons England is still fighting back against India in the ongoing series.
it begs the question, what if Root is injured or unable to play in this series? Will England still be able to compete against top-tier sides? England fans will hope they never have to find out – so, till then, experience the greatness!
Roooot Roooot Roooot [in the voice of Barmy Army]