Virender Sehwag lauds a truly very special knock from Joe Root

England had let Sri Lanka take a crucial 46-run lead in the first innings, it was time now to bat better and make sure the fourth innings target is well beyond their reach. It wasn’t a promising start for England as they were 109/4 pretty early on day 3. Skipper Joe Root was still out there in the middle, looking for a partner, seeking support.

He found some from Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali but the 82-run partnership with wicketkeeper-batsman Ben Foakes that really took them some distance. Root held his end firmly. Buttler after a 74-run stand was dismissed for 34 by Akila Dhananjaya, Ali was foxed by the same bowler but all this while kept getting the runs and pushing the team total towards something substantial.

Root in the process also brought up his hundred, the 15th of his Test career and steered the team towards a winning total. It was a long overdue hundred given the fact that he only had one fifty-plus score on the tour before this. With that, England managed to post over 300 runs on the board and currently lead by 278 runs with 1 wicket in hand.

A truly very special century

Dhananjaya sent Root packing before he could cause more damage on the individual score of 124. Foakes is still batting on 51 with James Anderson for company and his task will be to shield Anderson at the same time make sure they get a lead of over 300 runs which will definitely push the Sri Lankans on the backfoot.

Sehwag who keenly follows all international teams didn’t miss Root’s knock and tweeted to laud the English skipper. He wrote- “A truly very special century from Joe Root”.

A truly very special century from Joe Root.

— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) November 16, 2018

The second Test gives England a really good chance of winning the Test series 2-0 which will certainly be one of their most memorable victories in the sub-continent.

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