Former England captain Joe Root has revealed how he would have felt if Ollie Pope had declared his decision before reaching his century during the second Test match against Sri Lanka. Joe Root claimed that he might not have liked that decision from Ollie Pope, but he would have accepted it.

The 33-year-old scored his second century of the match against Sri Lanka in the ongoing Test at Lord’s in London.

The right-handed batsman reached his 34th Test century on the third day of the match. Root surpassed the legendary Alastair Cook to become England’s joint-highest hundred scorer in Tests.

The right-handed batsman scored 103 runs in 121 balls with the help of 10 boundaries. Root is now just 96 runs away from overtaking Alastair Cook and becoming England’s all-time leading run-scorer.

The middle-order hitter is expected to break that record in the third and final game of the series.

Maybe I wouldn’t have enjoyed it – Joe Root

Joe Root was asked how he would have felt if Ollie Pope had declared before reaching his century in England’s second innings.

Root said he would have appreciated that as the main objective is to win. He claimed they had enough time to bowl out the opposition in the final innings.

“I would have loved it. I may not have enjoyed it at the time, but no. I would say that you play to win. The fact that we still have so much time left and they didn’t need it. But yeah, it would have been wonderful,” Root said.

“Did you think Ollie would propose before you got here?”

“I would have loved it”

Class 😭😂 pic.twitter.com/rwRMe5Cq8t

— Bex #Denly(x2)MemeTeam 🎄 (@Psychadelick69) August 31, 2024

Root was in his 80s when England’s lead reached 450 runs. Though Ollie Pope might have been tempted to declare it, he allowed Root to reach his individual milestone.

England were bowled out for 251 runs in their second innings and set a massive target of 483 runs for Sri Lanka.

That’s what I wanted to do – Joe Root

Joe Root said he enjoys the challenge of adapting to different situations and handling them effectively. Root added that he only got frustrated towards the end when the game lost pace and became too focused on him.

“Yeah, and I guess that’s what allows you to judge yourself as a player: if you can play the situation, the scenario and manage it well over a period of time. “And that’s what I wanted to do today,” Root said.

“The only time I started to get frustrated was towards the end, when you don’t want the game to stop. You don’t want to go four or five overs where you’re winning one over and over and it’s all about you. You want to get on with the game.”

“So we got a little bit nervous at the back because we’re not like that as a team. We want to keep moving forward in the game as much as we can and apply pressure when we’re on top.”

Also Read: Joe Root makes a confession about breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most Test runs