Chennai: England skipper Joe Root became the first cricketer to score a double hundred in his 100th Test match. This feat was achieved by the Englishman on the second day of the First Test match, as England went on to pile on 555 for eight when the stumps were drawn, here on Saturday.
He scaled the new height in style, dancing down the track to loft spinner Ashwin over the long-on for a second six in his innings (218) which came off 377 deliveries, studded with 19 hits to the fence and two over.
The stylish batsman erased many records en route. Root was the first-ever cricket to reach to double-ton with a six and overtook Inzamam-ul-huq 184 of the highest runs in the 100th Test match. The 30-year-old is the 15th England player to have played 100 Test matches.
He also surpassed Mike Gatting (207) to post the highest individual score for an English batsman in India. Root has now scored five double centuries in Test cricket; only Wally Hammond has posted more for England (7).
The in-form batsman, who made his Test debut in India in 2012, has taken a liking to the Asian conditions. His knocks of 228 and 186 propelled them to win against Sri Lanka, and joined greats in the likes of Colin Cowdrey and Alec Stewart in scoring a century in their 100th Test match.
Root's amazing 644 runs have come in the last three Tests. Only two other batsmen from England, Hammond and Graham Gooch, have scored more runs than Root in three successive Tests. Hammond racked up 779 runs in three Tests against Australia in 1928-29. Gooch scored 763 runs in 1990 - 122 at Lord's and 184 at Edgbaston against New Zealand, before amassing 456 runs at Lord's against India in the next Test. Root potentially has one more innings in this match left to add to his total.
