Imperious Joe Root steered his side to a record-breaking run chase that secured a series draw with India and put the seal on an incredible first half of the Test summer.
Root added a 28th Test hundred to his collection, his 3rd in four matches, his fourth of this delayed India series and his 11th since the start of 2021. Somehow the world’s best batsman is still getting better, reeling off hundreds as if they were Beatles hits in a Glastonbury headline slot.
And he is doing it in an era - albeit a four match old era - when the England gameplan has gone through a seismic shift. The fact is that Root is still, far and away the best batsman on show even though Jonny Bairstow is in the sort of purple patch that would make even the artist formerly known as Prince happy.
