ICC Champions Trophy 2017, Match 1, England v Bangladesh: CT Player of the Match - Joe Root

The curtains were finally raised on the 2017 Champions Trophy, and to the delight of English cricket fans, their team would battle it out against Bangladesh in the sunshine. Hosts England won the toss and chose to bowl first on a good-looking deck at The Kia Oval.

Dutifully following the trend set by the warm-up games, Bangladesh also put up a first innings total in excess of 300. The English bowlers were bloodied by a fearless Tamim Iqbal at the top, adequately aided by Mushfiqur Rahim in the middle. Under the circumstances, England had a seriously tall ask – a 300+ score had never been scaled in the Champions Trophy.

Joe Root arrives at the crease to rescue England

Chasing 306, England were jolted early with Jason Roy’s departure. His 1 run that took away 12 minutes at the crease was a continuation of his frustrating run with the bat. Roy’s wicket was perhaps a blessing in disguise as it brought Joe Root to the crease.

Root might have had a couple of unconvincing innings lately against South Africa. However, on the big stage, he showed exactly why he is a batsman of preeminence in world cricket today. He masterfully switched gears at crucial stages of the innings to make sure England were comfortably home with 16 balls to spare.

The English dressing room might have been a tad bit rattled at 6/1, with the ghost of a defeat at the hands of Bangladesh looming over. Joe Root, however, decided this would be a good time to remind the cricketing fraternity of his prowess. With spiked boots ‘Root’ed to the crease, Joe took his time to settle in alongside the more flamboyant Alex Hales.

The latter played the role of the aggressor, while Root eased into his innings. He got a much-needed 50 from 59 balls, with the hope of converting his innings into a match-winning one. Luckily for him and England, something better was on the cards.

Hales departs, Root takes over

Just as Alex Hales looked good to tee off with a century and consequently take the match away from the Tigers, Sabbir Rahman got rid of the danger man. Root was still on 64 and was joined by his in-form skipper Eoin Morgan. England were still 141 arrears, and needed to get them in 22 overs called for a special knock.

The duo began stitching a steady partnership, just what England required at that stage. However, there wasn’t anything extraordinary on display from Root yet as he trod along at a sub-90 strike rate. He inched towards a fighting hundred. The special moment came on the penultimate ball of the 43rd over as he nurdled a Mortaza delivery off his pads to comfortably come back for 2. The helmet promptly came off to reveal a pleased Joe Root, and why not!

His century turned out to be the defining moment of the game. Having got the pressure off his back, Root put the foot on the pedal as though he was in a hurry to take England home. His next 32 runs came off just 13 balls, the onslaught begun in the 44th over bowled by Rubel Hossain. Root greeted the Bangladeshi pacer with a straight downtown six. He followed it up with a four of the 3rd ball and eventually extracted 11 off Hossain’s over.

Morgan then followed suit, meanwhile, Root kept smashing boundaries. Within no time, the Root-Morgan duo brought it down from 32 needed off 30 to 6 required from 18 for the hosts, an easy task which was duly completed by Root himself with two consecutive boundaries.

While England registered an eight-wicket win in clinical fashion and successfully drove away the Bangladeshi jinx, the game would have done wonders to Joe Root’s confidence levels. He was the steady member in both partnerships worth 159 and 143, and his responsibility at the crease was rewarded with a career-best individual score of 133.

The Kia Oval thus witnessed sunshine, runs, hundreds and more importantly, a proficient innings by Joe Root. His match-winning century got the Champions Trophy up and running in style and we thought it only fair to present him the CT Player of the Match award.