Joe Root’s unbeaten 99 against India surpasses Virat Kohli’s ODI record | Cricket News
Joe Root In the second ODI in Cardiff, England produced another chasing masterclass with a four-wicket win over India and an unbeaten 99 to help the hosts level the series at 1-1 in the three-match series. and ahead of Virat Kohli Average when chasing. Root came on in England’s first innings after Ben Duckett was dismissed for a duck, absorbing early pressure from Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna before taking complete control of the 234-run chase. He set the stage for England’s innings by scoring 99 off 133 deliveries with nine boundaries, working closely with Sam Curran, Will Jacks and Gus Atkinson to lead the hosts home.The knock also allowed Root to overtake Virat Kohli as the highest-striking batsman (minimum 2,000 runs) in successful ODI run chases.Highest batting average in a successful ODI chase (minimum 2,000 runs):
- MS Dhoni – 102.71
- Joe Root – 91.59
- Virat Kohli – 89.07
- AB de Villiers – 82.77
- Michael Clark – 73.86
After the win, Root said the result was far more important than the missed century.“Finally reaching the finish line and getting the job done is probably the best feeling in cricket. You don’t play for milestones; you play to win games. The series is alive now and that’s what we wanted today,” Root said in his post-match speech. Looking back on the chase, Root admitted that batting throughout the game was challenging and praised the England bowlers for restricting India after the Kohli-Iyer partnership threatened to call off the match.“It was difficult to bat the whole game. Our bowlers did a great job after working together to bring the score back and give us a score that we thought we could chase. We knew we had to bat for time, absorb the pressure in phases and stay calm. Sometimes you have to be scrappy and ugly to win and today was one of those times,” he added.
Root easily chases the target
India wasted a commanding position after being asked to bat first at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff. Despite a solid 114 between Virat Kohli (65) and Shreyas Iyer (66) to take the visitors to 180/3, a dramatic mid-order collapse resulted in them losing their last seven wickets for 53 and being bowled out for 233. Jofra Archer (3/47) and Gus Atkinson (3/50) performed well with the ball while Jasprit Bumrah’s unbeaten 20 helped India cross the 230-run mark.England’s chase got off to a disastrous start with Jasprit Bumrah removing Ben Duckett on the first ball of the innings before Prasidh Krishna reduced the hosts to 8/2. However, Joe Root sealed the chase with a brilliant 99 off 133 balls* and received valuable support from Will Jacks (30), Sam Curran (26) and *Gus Atkinson (23)**. Atkinson hit the winning boundary to seal the four-wicket win, leaving Root agonizingly short of a century.The three-match ODI series is leveled 1-1 and the decider will be played at Lord’s on July 19.
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