Joe Root finished the Adelaide test with 1630 runs in 2021. He is now only 158 runs short of Mohammad Yusuf’s phenomenal year of 2006, where the ace Pakistani batsman scored the most runs in a calendar year ever (1788 runs).
Root is yet to play the boxing day test at Melbourne. Considering the form he is in, there is a high possibility of the record being broken.
The phenomenal performance by Joe Root this year cannot be denied. To put things in perspective, the 2nd highest run-scorer in tests this year is Rohit Sharma with 906 runs.
But if we look at things only from England’s point of view, the magnitude of his performance becomes even greater.
For starters, Joe Root scored 26.03 per cent of England’s total runs this year. England’s 2nd highest run-scorer is Rory Burns with 530 runs, which is less than 1/3 of Root’s total.
Their top 5 run-scorers, except for Joe Root, Rory Burns, Ollie Pope, Dom Sibley and Dan Lawrence, scored 1630 runs combined, 22 less than Joe root.
England's test team has seen 7 centuries this year, 6 of them were by Root. The other one was Rory Burns against New Zealand. The two Double centuries from the English team also came from Root.
If we look at half-centuries, England has quite a few there, 22 to be precise. Joe Root also tops this list, along with Rory Burns, Dawid Malan, Dom Sibley and Dan Lawrence, with 3 half-centuries each.
Enough of showcasing Joe Root’s individual brilliance. Let’s look at how much dependent the Englis team were on their skipper.
As mentioned before, Root scored 26.03per cent of England’s total runs.
England has managed to win 4 tests this year. Joe Root scored two double-centuries and two centuries in those 4 games.
Not only that, he scored 36.68 per cent of England’s total runs in those 4 games. This one stat is enough to show how much England needed Joe Root.
If you are not convinced yet and want to think more about how England might fare without Root, the following information will help.
If you exclude Joe Root’s contribution, the results will astonish you.
Four of England’s losses would have been innings defeat if it was not for Root; whereas they suffered only one innings defeat against India at Ahmedabad.
One of their drawn matches would have turned into a loss. Even one of the matches they won would have been a defeat if it was not for him.
Such was the impact Joe Root had in the England test team this year.
English cricket would forever be grateful to Joe Root for saving them from a disastrous year with some inhuman performance. But they need to find alternatives. Because such performance doesn’t repeat every year.
