NICK HOWSON: The England captain went to 218 on day two against India in Chennai and put on 124 with the returning allrounder
India v England: 1st Test scorecard
Joe the Great, India grind and the ghost of Chennai... TEST MATCH TALKING POINTS
When Joe Root has previously been asked to quantify the performances of Ben Stokes, the praise has normally been glowing. "Mr Incredible", "outrageous" and "freak" have been among the descriptive words used by the England skipper down the years.
But after the Yorkshireman went to his fifth Test double century, the highest score by an overseas batsman in India for 11 years, to go third in the all-time run-scorers list for his country, the boot was on the other foot.
"He makes us all feel pretty rubbish with how easy he makes batting look," the allrounder said in his own inimitable way, having put 124 on with for the fourth wicket with the captain.
"I was quite surprised he ran down the wicket and hacked a six to bring up a double. He's in phenomenal form and just making things look very, very easy dominating spin.
"It is incredible to watch. I don't think we've had an England batsman play spin in the way he does. He's got an answer for everything that is thrown at him and he is a delight to watch at the moment."
While England moved onto 555 for 8 to cement their position of authority in this first Test, it was once again hard to ignore the imperiousness of Root. The 30-year-old now has 644 Test runs in 2021 at a handy average of 128.80.
Despite Stokes' best efforts, Root stole the show
For a period, with runs initially hard to come by, it looked as though Stokes might upstage him. The returning Durham man scored 82 from 118 balls including 10 fours and three sixes, taking on an India attack which couldn't catch a cold.
Stokes was put down twice, almost ran out his skipper and escaped playing several risky shots as he tried to up the scoring rate. And as he tells it, it was a first red-ball knock which came after limited preparation.
"I bowled, batted and did a lot of running," he explained. "That is pretty much it.
"Physically just make sure I get myself ready for the test match, that I've got the workload when it comes to the overs.
"To be honest after being around and what is best for my game from a batting point of view I just made sure that I felt good.
"I didn't overkill it to be honest. If I felt good and everything was going alright I would just come out of the nets.
"Obviously I've spent a couple of months away. It is always nice coming back in and spending some time out in the middle."