Root likens England's performance to Coldplay after defeat to SL
England cricketer Joe Root has drawn an unusual comparison between his national team and British band Coldplay, after their historic defeat to Sri Lanka in the 3rd and final Test match. The match, held at the Kennington Oval in London, saw Sri Lanka beat the hosts by eight wickets on Day 4. This victory prevented a series whitewash as England had already secured a 2-1 lead. However, SL claimed their maiden Test win against England in over a decade.
Root's Coldplay analogy post defeat
In a post-match interview with BBC Test Match Special, Root likened England's inconsistent performance to that of Coldplay's fluctuating chart success. He stated, "We are not always going to get it right all of the time. I don't think we played our best cricket this week and that is going to happen from time to time." He added, "Coldplay can't be number one every week."
Most runs in Test series
Despite the team's loss, Root had an exceptional season. He emerged as the top run-scorer of the series, with 375 runs from six innings at an average of 75. This includes two centuries and a half-century. This performance earned him England's Player of the Series title.
Most POTS awards in Test cricket
As per ESPNcricinfo, Root has now become the player with the most POTS awards for England in Tests. The talisman has been a run-scoring machine for Brits since his Test debut in 2012. Having played 146 Test matches, Root has scored 12,402 runs at 50.62 (100s: 34, 50s: 64). Root's tally of 13 Player-of-the-Match awards is also the most for an Englishman in Tests.
England's leading centurion in Test cricket
Root's record-breaking summer also saw him become England's leading centurion in Test cricket with 34 centuries, surpassing Alastair Cook's tally of 33. He also outpaced Mahela Jayawardene, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Brian Lara and Kumar Sangakkara to become the sixth-highest run-scorer in the longest format. Root is now on the brink of completing 5,000 runs in the ICC World Test Championship.
