TOP SPIN ON THE TEST: Joe Root becomes ninth player in Test history to score at least ten hundreds against a single opponent as he impresses against India

Joe Root reached an unbeaten 106 as England reached 302 for seven against India.

England recovered from 112 for five and trail the series 2-1 overall.

India’s Akash Deep took three wickets on debut.

Mail Sport’s LAWRENCE BOOTH provides the big stats of the day.

Joe Root became the ninth player in Test history to score at least 10 hundreds against a single opponent. Among English batsmen, only Jack Hobbs has previously achieved the feat, with 12 centuries against Australia. Don Bradman tops the list, with 19 against England.

Root’s century came off 219 balls, making it the slowest of England’s 26 Test hundreds in the Bazball era. The previous slowest was Ben Foakes: 206 balls against South Africa at Old Trafford in 2022.

He now has 91 Test scores of 50 or more, the most by an England player and a lead over Alastair Cook. Only Sachin Tendulkar (119), Jacques Kallis, Ricky Ponting (103 each), Rahul Dravid (99) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (96) have more.

The sixth-wicket stand of 113 in 43.3 overs between Root and Foakes was the 85th 50-over in the Bazball era. And, at 2.59 over, he was comfortably the slowest.

Root is also the first to score 10 hundreds against India, one ahead of Australia’s Steve Smith.