Joe Root surpasses Steve Smith with record-breaking ton against India in Ranchi Test

Demonstrating exceptional resilience and skill, England's Joe Root made cricketing history by becoming the inaugural player to notch ten Test centuries against India. His masterful innings on the first day of the ongoing fourth Test in Ranchi saved England from a confounding position.

The game started with England choosing to bat in a must-win encounter for them, and the first session was dominated by the debutant Indian pacer Akash Deep, who rattled the English top-order with three quick wickets of Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, and Zac Crawley. At 57 for 3, and, later, 112 for 5, England's innings hung on a knife's edge.

The right-handed batter was criticized for his approach in the previous matches. And thus, taking necessary lessons from the consecutive failures, the star batter chose to score runs against the Bazball approach. The right-handed batter returned to his classical style of batting, carefully constructing his innings. He is currently batting on 106 alongside Ollie Robinson (31*), and will resume his innings on Day 2.

Along with Ben Foakes, the Sheffield-born batter stitched a brilliant partnership of 113 runs, placing the visitors back in the game. Root will be looking to carry on batting on Day 2 and place his team in a good position by adding as many runs to the total as he can.

Root's century not only established a noteworthy personal achievement, but also elevated his standing in cricketing lore. With this century, Root has now scored 10 centuries against India out of his total of 31 centuries in red-ball cricket. This remarkable feat made him surpass the likes of legendary players such as Gary Sobers, Viv Richards, Ricky Ponting, and fellow contemporary stalwart Steve Smith.

ALSO READ: Rohit Sharma furious at production team, asks to show replay during DRS call

Here's the list of players with most Test tons against India

Joe Root – 10 (52 innings)
Steven Smith – 9 (37 innings)
Sir Gary Sobers – 8 (30 innings)
Sir Viv Richards – 8 (41 innings)
Ricky Ponting – 8 (51 innings)

Also read: Mohammed Siraj castles Tom Hartley with a ripper on Day 1 in Ranchi