Joe Root has been prolific in his career. After taking in Test Captaincy and defeating South Africa previously it was a special day for the 26-year-old. Hewas playing in his home ground first time as England captain and also a home crowd. The moment got more special as by the afternoon session he scored yet another 50.

He became the second man ever to score at least a half-century in twelve consecutive Test matches. He joins South Africa’s AB De Villiers in this feat.

It all started in Dhaka on October 2016 when England was playing test against Bangladesh scoring a 56. Next, he scored a ton against India at Rajkot and followed it with half-centuries in the next four matches of that series though England suffered a  whitewash.

Then there was no looking back. With the onset of test captaincy, his runs didn’t fall this summer; it only got better. 190 against South Africa at Lord’s, half-centuries at Trent Bridge, the Oval and Old Trafford before a hundred last week against West Indies at Edgbaston all were a part of his greatness.

Root has also averaged 65 after taking on the captaincy of Alastair Cook. Ben Stokes also applauded the skipper’s innings declaring him one of the best players of this era.

“He’s one hell of a player,” said Ben Stokes. “He has been for a long term now. The captaincy hasn’t affected his run scoring ability. If anything it’s made him into a better player if that was possible. There are guys around the world who are known as the best players in the world and we’ve got one of them, if not the best.”

Root is considered as a fantastic four player of this era along with Steve Smith, Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson, so he is constantly up to comparisons with the others. These four hold four of the top five positions in the ICC Test batting rankings, Root being the second one in the list.