Root closes in on milestone ton against India at Lord's

Joe Root led the way with a valuable, unbeaten knock of 99 as England wrapped up the opening day of the Lord’s Test against India with 251 runs on the board for the loss of four wickets.

The England number four finished Day 1 just a single run away from his 37th Test ton, which will take him past Australia’s Steve Smith and Rahul Dravid in the list for most centuries in the longest format.

Root is currently the joint fifth-highest century scorer in the format, behind Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis, Ricky Ponting and Kumar Sangakkara.

The 34-year-old also became the first player to score 3000 runs against India in Test cricket. This includes 10 centuries and 30 half-centuries.

The former England skipper displayed characteristic grit to help the hosts recover from early blows on Day 1.

Having won the toss and elected to bat first, England lost both openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley in the opening session.

India all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy produced the breakthroughs in the same over, with Rishabh Pant completing the caught behind on both instances.

The Indian wicket-keeper picked up a blow to his index finger in the second session and was forced off the field, with substitute keeper Dhruv Jurel replacing him.

Ollie Pope was then accompanied by Joe Root in the middle, and the duo added 109 runs for the third wicket.

But just as Pope was closing in on a half-century, Ravindra Jadeja broke the partnership as the former nicked one behind to Jurel.

Not too later, India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah removed Harry Brook with a nip-backer to make it four wickets for the visitors.

Root then restored some calm by joining hands with skipper Ben Stokes, forging an unbeaten 98-run partnership to close the day for England.

The five-Test ICC World Test Championship series between India and England currently stands tied at 1-1.