Joe Root: England legend’s century vs Sri Lanka confirms place as spin-batting great

Root’s position as one of the all-time greats is hardly news to the cricketing public.

Yet perhaps an underappreciated aspect of his game is his talent in handling spin and the sub-continental pitches that assist slower bowlers.

While England have often floundered on tours of Asia, Root has frequently flowered.

He now sits third on the list of non-Asian ODI run-scorers against spin in Asia with 1,118 at an average of 69.87, behind only Jacques Kallis (1,151) and Ricky Ponting (1,330).

“Joe’s playing of spin is absolutely fantastic because he’s able to manoeuvre the ball,” former England batter Dawid Malan told BBC Sport.

“It’s different challenges, batting in the sub-continent. Wickets vary from ground to ground.

“The last wicket they played on, it turned square, it was incredibly slow. And today, it didn’t turn as much and was a better wicket to play on.

“You have to adapt game by game. Joe’s found ways to do that, to take over and score at a run a ball consistently. He’s done that in all the conditions he’s played in.”

Unsurprisingly, it’s not just in Asia that Root has prospered against spin.

Of all the players to score more than 3,000 ODI runs against slow bowling alone, the 35-year-old currently averages 73.43 – only India great MS Dhoni has a better average.

Indeed, Root has averaged more than 80 against spin in eight calendar years of his ODI career, emerging with a figure of 202.5 in 2017, 101.25 in 2018 and 206 from his first three matches this year.

Those runs have been built steadily, with a distinct lack of risk – of the players in the 3,000-run club against spin, only Virat Kohli in the last 20 years betters Root’s false shot record of 9.2%.