Despite England’s batting struggles in Ashes, Joe Root crossed 1700 Test runs in a calendar year during the third Test against Australia. The England captain brought up the milestone with a boundary off Mitchell Starc. However, he couldn’t overtake Mohammad Yousuf’s tally of 1788 runs. Root, who made 28 in the second innings, ended 2021 with 1708 runs. It remained the only bright moment for England in the third Test, as the visitors succumbed to a humiliating innings defeat in Melbourne.
Double hundreds in subcontinent
Root became one of the few overseas batters to notch up two double hundreds in the subcontinent in a calendar year. A terrific 228, at a strike rate of 71, in Galle helped England crush Sri Lanka by seven wickets. He fell 14 runs short of a double century in the second Test match. In India, the 30-year-old made the spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Shahbaz Nadeem, and Washington Sundar toil hard in Chennai. Root notched up 218 in the series opener, which England won by 227 runs.
Hat-trick of tons at home
The England skipper led from the front in the Test series against India at home. He struck a hundred in the second innings of the opening Test. It was his first three-figure score in red-ball cricket in England since September 2018. Root followed it up with a hundred at Lord’s and Headingley in the second and third Test matches, respectively. The knock of 121, which steered England to a big total and eventually to an innings win in Leeds, saw the Yorkshire batsman becoming the first player ever to hit a hat-trick of hundreds twice in a calendar year.
2421 Fantasy Points
Who was the most reliable and prolific player in Test cricket in 2021? Fantasy cricket players are likely to name Root, who grabbed 2421 fantasy points in 15 matches. Staggering knocks in Sri Lanka and India helped him top fantasy points charts, too, in 2021. Though it was his batting skills that contributed the lion's share of the points, he made more than 400 points from his bowling and fielding efforts.
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Team
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Matches
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Fantasy Points
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|
India
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8
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1312
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|
Sri Lanka
|
2
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577
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|
Australia
|
3
|
387
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New Zealand
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2
|
145
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*Team-wise fantasy points of Joe Root in Tests in 2021
Parameswaran Sankaranarayanan
Parameswaran Sankaranarayan is a sports enthusiast who has worked in print, website, and other digital platforms. He was part of the editorial team of first-ever Indian football-based website - IndianFootball.com (now defunct) - and passionately follows the latest happenings in world football. During his time as a journalist, he had the opportunity to interact with some of the iconic personalities in Indian sports and witness some memorable moments in Indian football.
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