Heading into the five-match Test series against England, Joe Root was India's biggest concern, but the Indian bowlers didn't allow him to dictate terms in the first two Tests. However, Root found his mojo back in the Lord's Test and scored a scintillating hundred in the first innings, allowing England to post a decent score of 387. The century played a key role in England's win as India could not take a first-innings lead. They were given a 193-run target to win the Lord's Test, but England won the game by 22 runs. Had Root not scored the runs, India would have taken a lead, and that should have been enough for the team to win the game.

Meanwhile, Joe Root is on the cusp of a historic feat. Root is known for his consistency, and with a hundred behind him, he would be keen to double it up in the fourth Test in Manchester. If Root can score a hundred in the fourth Test, he will become the first player in the world to score 20 centuries in the WTC (World Test Championship). Root tops the charts of most hundreds in WTC, with 19 hundreds in 67 matches, and the second best is Steve Smith with 13 centuries.

Player	Hundreds
Joe Root	19
Steve Smith	13
Kane Williamson	11
Marnus Labuschagne	11
Rohit Sharma	9

Meanwhile, Root can also become the first player in the world to score 6000 runs in the WTC if he can score 204 runs in the fourth Test. Root is also the leading run scorer in the WTC, with 5796 runs. Root is chasing Sachin Tendulkar's record of most runs in Test cricket, and he is still over 2500 runs away from the milestone. With a few years of cricket left in him, this is a very achievable target.

If Root can score 119 runs in the fourth Test, he will surpass Ricky Ponting to become the second leading run scorer in Test cricket.