ENG vs NZ: Joe Root wins hearts for his souvenir gesture towards Daryl Mitchell after 3-0 series win

Former English skipper Joe Root scored an unbeaten 86 runs off 125 balls to guide his side to seven wickets win over New Zealand in the third Test match at Headingly in Leeds on Monday. Root missed his 28th Test century by just 14 runs but he won the hearts of the cricket fans by handing over a stump to New Zealand all-rounder Daryl Mitchell as a souvenir gift. Root’s gesture was caught on camera and fans are terming this gesture as a class act.

Mitchell, playing in a number 6 position, dominated this series by scoring 538 runs in six innings, with three centuries and two fifties in this series. He alongside Tom Blundell rescued the Kiwis from embarrassment on many occasions to avoid an inning loss in this series. Unfortunately, his efforts went in vain and he ended up on the losing side in all three matches of the innings.

However, Root made sure to recognise his efforts and handed him over the match stump for having a brilliant series. Daryl Mitchell was also named the Player of the Series for New Zealand.

Here’s the video:

As far as the Test match is concerned, Jack Leach won the Man of the Match award for his two five-wicket hauls and Root won the Man of the Series trophy for scoring 396 runs in six innings at an average of 99.00 and an impressive strike rate of 74.15 with the help of two centuries and a fifty.

In the post-match conference, Root shared that Jonny Bairstow deserved the Man of the Series award for his performances in the last two matches. Bairstow scored 394 runs in six innings at an average of 78.80 and a strike rate of 120.12 in this series and remained unbeaten on 71 runs off just 44 balls in the last match to help England to a 3-0 whitewash.

Ben Stokes has got the plans for the India Test: Joe Root

England now turn their attention to the upcoming rescheduled fifth Test match against India starting 1st of July in Birmingham. India lead this series by 1-2 and offer totally a different challenge to the in-form and rejuvenated English Test side. India rank second in the ICC Test teams chart and dominated this series back in August-September 2021. But Root feels that England are looking more confident and is sure that skipper Stokes has got some plans for the India Test.

“One of the great things about this series was guys keep getting more and more confident about how they want to go about it. It’s important that we enjoy this series. It has been a rocky road for the Test series. If you cannot enjoy this series, then what do you play for? I think we should concentrate on what this team has done over the last few weeks. I am sure Ben has got the plans for the India Test and the next series as well,” Root said in the post-match presentation ceremony.