Root Was One Run Away From History and Hugged the Man Who Denied Him

On Thursday evening at Sophia Gardens, Joe Root played the most Joe Root innings imaginable. He walked out after one ball of England's reply, batted for 133 deliveries, hit nine fours, nudged and nurdled and occasionally drove with devastating beauty, and finished on 99 not out — because Gus Atkinson pulled Prasidh Krishna to the boundary before Root could face another ball.

Root was one run away from his 21st ODI century. His 62nd international hundred. Instead, he walked off the field with a number that will haunt pub quiz hosts for decades: 99*. And he didn't look even remotely bothered. He hugged Atkinson at the non-striker's end, grinned at his teammates, and got on with it.

England won by four wickets with 35 balls to spare, levelling the series at 1-1. The decider is at Lord's on Sunday. And Root — as he has done so many times in his career — made himself the least interesting thing about a game he single-handedly rescued.

In the modern game, we have normalised the obsession with three figures. Batters slow down in the nineties, farm the strike, play dot balls they would never play at any other point in their innings — all so they can raise a bat to applause that history will remember. Root didn't do any of that. He never once tried to manipulate the strike to get the single he needed. He just kept batting the same way he had from ball one: pragmatically, intelligently, selflessly.

Consider the context. England were 101 for 4 after 20 overs, chasing 234 on a pitch that was offering enough to India's seamers. Root had already survived a scratchy start, not looking fluent, grinding through spells where the ball was doing plenty. This wasn't a Root masterclass in timing. This was a Root masterclass in survival, in reading the game's temperature, in knowing that the chase needed an anchor more than it needed a highlight reel.

Will Jacks gave Root company in a chanceless stand of 72 that swung the game. But when Jacks fell to Gurnoor Brar at 197 for 6, Root was still there. He was always still there.

The story could have been very different. At 178 for 3 in the 38th over, Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer had India cruising toward 280. Kohli had made 65 with trademark elegance — driving Sam Curran down the ground for four to bring up his fifty, smashing six fours with the authority of a man who knows these English grounds better than most Englishmen. Iyer, meanwhile, had casually hooked Archer for six and was motoring toward what looked like a destructive finish.

Then everything fell apart. India lost their last seven wickets for 55 runs. Archer dismissed Kohli with a top edge that ballooned to Adil Rashid at third man — a nothing shot from a batter who had been in full control. Atkinson cleaned out the lower order. Shivam Dube's golden duck — chipping a length ball straight back to Archer for a sharp return catch — was the kind of dismissal that encapsulates a team in freefall. India stumbled from 178 for 3 to 233 all out in 44 overs, wasting six overs they never batted.

Gus Atkinson had already turned this match on its head with the ball, taking 3-50 to dismantle India's middle order. Then he walked out at number eight with England needing 38 off 51 balls and Root on 76, and played one of the most important cameos of the summer. He smashed 23 off the last 38 runs, taking the pressure off Root entirely and — in the cruellest twist — finishing the game with a pull shot that denied Root the century he deserved more than anyone.

Root's reaction? He hugged him. No frustration, no hesitation. The same man who has now scored 20 ODI centuries and one unforgettable 99* treated the moment exactly as it deserved: as a team victory, not a personal milestone missed.

Lost in the drama of Root's 99* is a quieter, sadder subplot. Virat Kohli, now 37, having retired from Tests and T20 internationals, may be playing his final ODI series on English soil. His 65 at Cardiff was vintage Kohli — compact, commanding, punctuated by those wristy drives that still make fielders move before the ball has passed them. But the top edge that ended his innings felt like a metaphor for India's middle-order fragility: a moment of false control followed by an ugly exit.

The series decider at Lord's on Sunday could be one of the last times we see Kohli in whites on English turf. The ground where he has scored some of his most iconic knocks. The ground where the 2027 World Cup format announcement just promised India fans the possibility of three India-Pakistan clashes in a single tournament. Lord's on Sunday will be about more than just a bilateral result. For Kohli, it might be about farewell.

The series stands at 1-1. India won the first ODI at Edgbaston thanks to Axar Patel's extraordinary all-round display and Gill's captaincy composure. England have hit back at Cardiff behind Root's selfless marathon and Archer's three-wicket burst. The decider is at Lord's — the Home of Cricket — on July 19.

For England, this is validation. After being thrashed in the T20I series, losing to Ireland, and watching their white-ball credentials disintegrate, they needed a statement. Root's 99* was that statement — not through flamboyance, but through sheer bloody-mindedness. England are alive because their best batter refused to lose.

For India, it's a wake-up call. The 178-for-3-to-233 collapse is becoming a pattern. The middle order leaks wickets in clusters. Dube's golden duck and Axar's nothing edge off Archer are the kind of soft dismissals that lose series deciders. Gill's team has one chance to fix it, at the biggest stage English cricket has to offer.

Root will walk out at Lord's on Sunday knowing he's one run short of a record he'll never get back. But he'll also walk out knowing he won the game. In cricket, that's supposed to be the whole point. Root just reminded everyone.