GALLE: In a heartwarming gesture, skipper Joe Root after scoring his double ton acknowledged England fan Rob Lewis' cheers from the top of the Galle Fort. Having travelled to the Island Nation before the coronavirus pandemic brought the Sri Lanka-England series to a halt, Rob waited for 10 months in the country to watch the English boys return for the series.
Rob waited for 10 months to watch England play the Test series in Sri Lanka and he wasn't disappointed as skipper Root hit a double century on day three of the first Test. Rob was short for words when Root after reaching his double ton acknowledged his cheers.
"Still in a daze about this," Rob tweeted.
Meanwhile, Root also became the second-fastest England batsman to register 8,000 runs in the longest format of the game.
Root surpassed former opener, Alastair Cook, to achieve the feat in 178 innings. Former cricketer Kevin Pietersen (176) is still the fastest English batsman to reach 8,000 Test runs.
Root, who became the seventh England batsman to achieve the feat, is also the first batsman from his country to hit a double century in Sri Lanka.
On Friday, Root smashed his 18th century to give the visitors the upper hand in the match after bundling Sri Lanka out for 135 in the first innings. England were at 320/4 at the end of play on day two before persistent rain hampered the course of play.
However, on day three, wickets kept falling from the other end while Root stood tall against the Sri Lankan bowling attack. The visitors were finally dismissed on 421.