Thoughts on Joe Root on the day of his 22nd test hundred

I’ve been a big fan of Joe Root for a long time now,and one of the things that I like the most about him is how flawless he looks when he is in form. As I watched him complete his 22nd century today,I just wanted to write about the few things I’ve noticed in him over the past few months. Starting from the mental side of things,I’ve loved the way he has handled the pressure put on him to score big every time he enters the pitch and set an example to the other players in the team. He is the captain and thats what he is supposed to do,some might say. Totally true. But with most of the other batsmen like Sibley,Buttler and Crawley in poor form and with the abscence of Stokes for this particular series,the onus was on him to carry the majority of the load(as far as batting is concerned). Let’s not forget about his poor run before 2021 began. That was a tough period for him. He didn’t seem to be in full control,and was struggling to convert his 50s into 100s. He fail to step up when his team needed him thr most. That’s added pressure. With so much happening around him,the way he came back and delivered in 2021 was phenomenal. Still is. He has become the first English captain to score 5 hundreds in a calender year. He has scored 1200 runs this year with an average of 65,scoring 5 hundreds(3 of which were big double hundreds) and 1 fifty. The man who was criticised for not converting his starts has now converted 5 of his 6 starts to a big score. That’s the way champions comeback. That’s the way champions play. If you say he has regained his part in the fab four, you’re wrong. He was never out of it. Not all players can score 9000+ runs with an average of 50 at the highest level. Only the elites do. There’s no question about him being a part of that. The second thing I noticed about him is his change of stance(not sure if I’ve spelled it correctly). He used to play with the off stump guard before but now he has shifted to a middle stump guard,thus helping him get better facing the inswinging deliveries. Again,another habit of a champion. Recognized his mistake,worked on it,and came back stronger. Lets also not forget about his rock solid defence today! That man was unshakeable. That’s what this post was all about. Appreciating the greatness of Root. Something that I’ll be doing for many more years.