Joe Root produced magic with his bat to take England to victory in the opening Test at Lord's against New Zealand on Sunday. Root became only the second Englishman and 14th cricketer in the history of Test cricket to reach the 10,000-run mark. While the former England captain's stunning achievement received widespread praise, it was a freaky video of Root standing at the non-striker's end that has gone viral.
"I knew @root66 was talented but not as magic as this……. What is this sorcery?" wrote a Twitter user, sharing a video of Root's bat standing on its own.
The video instantly went viral, with many trying to make sense of it.
On Sunday, Root became the latest entrant to the 10,000-run club in Test cricket, achieving the rare feat on Day 4 of the opening Test against New Zealand on Sunday.
Root became only the second Englishman to reach the milestone after Alastair Cook and the 14th overall. He reached the 10,000-run mark in his 218th innings, becoming the fastest England batter to do so.
Cook had reached the landmark in his 229th innings. Incidentally, Root is also the joint-youngest to reach the mark along with Cook, both of whom reached the milestone at the age of 31y 157d.
Root scored an unbeaten 115 in the Lord's Test to help England beat New Zealand by five wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
His magnificent century rescued them from a score of 69/4 as they chased down 277 at Lord's to seal a win in Ben Stokes' first match as England's Test captain.