'I Owed That To The Group' - Joe Root On His 29th Test Century
Joe Root scored his 29th Test ton [Twitter]
England batter Joe Root gave his team a shout-out after scoring the 29th hundred of his Test career.
As the Bazball kept Root at pinch, forcing him to change his natural playing style, he went without scoring a Test century in the last eight months.
However, Root got back his mojo in the Wellington Test versus New Zealand, scoring 153 not-out as England declared their first innings for 435 runs.
As the 32-year-old's spell without a ton came to an end, he cited his determination to make the three-figure mark while also saying he "owed" it to the team.
"It's been a while since I made a solid contribution. I had the bit between my teeth. It felt like the lads have carried me for a while so it was my turn to chip in," Root said as quoted to BBC Sport.
"I felt like I owed that to the group. I really thrived on that situation. It needed someone to stand up and bring a bit of calmness to things after being 21-3," he added.
England have lost only one Test in Ben Stokes' captaincy, winning 10 of 11 matches. An easy-looking victory at Wellington would be their seventh on the trot.
Albeit having a tough personal going, Root has been able to derive pleasure out of England's entertaining brand of cricket.
"I've loved it. Ever since stepping back, I didn't really know how I'd feel about things, how I'd manage certain parts of the game. I've thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it, even when things haven't personally being going very well. The way that we have been playing and to be part of the journey this team has been on has been so much fun," Root shared.
At the stumps on Day 2, New Zealand are 138/7 as England lead by 297 runs.
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