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[Watch] Joe Root Punishes Sri Lanka With Scintillating 34th Test Century

Root completes his 34th Test ton [x] Root completes his 34th Test ton [x]

Joe Root is unstoppable at the moment. The England batter has been in top form as of late, and he continues his quest to surpass Sachin Tendulkar's record of most runs in Test cricket.

The elegant batter, on Saturday, slammed his 34th Test ton against Sri Lanka, and went past his former captain, Alastair Cook to become the Englishman with the most hundreds in Test cricket. He achieved the feat on the third day of the second Test match, as he made the Lankan bowlers look helpless.

Root rescues England from tricky situation

Interestingly, this was his second hundred of the match, having scored a brilliant 143 in the first innings. In both the innings, the gutsy batter had a rescue job to do, which he did to perfection. Talking about the second innings, England were in a commanding position when Root came out to bat, but they had still lost a couple of early wickets.

He stitched a crucial partnership alongside Harry Brook, and gave stability to the innings. The former Test captain then had a useful partnership with keeper-batter Jamie Smith as the match was taken far away from Sri Lanka's grasp.


Batting at 98, with grit and determination, Root struck a boundary off Lahiru Kumara to complete his historic 34th Test century.

England dominate proceedings on Day 3

Resuming at 25/1, England batters, Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope started in an aggressive fashion. Both the batters wasted little opportunity in punishing the loose deliveries, but soon, Duckett departed for 24, and Pope continued his horrendous form as he walked back for 17.

Root then, alongside Brook took the mantle forward and consolidated the innings. He had two crucial partnerships as the home team marched towards a big total, and courtesy of a Joe Root hundred, they have setup a target of 482 for the Lankan Lions.