Root dedicates 33rd Test ton to batting mentor Thorpe

London, Aug 30: Former England skipper and their batting mainstay Joe Root, hit his 33rd Test ton on Thursday, after scoring a compact 143 against visitors Sri Lanka at the Lord's here. Root dedicated his 33rd Test century to long-time batting mentor Graham Thorpe, who passed away recently.

After reaching the three figure mark, Root pointed to the skies and paid tribute to Thorpe's influence on his batting. Later he stated without Thorpe, he would not have achieved so much success in international cricket.

It can be recalled that Thorpe was  regarded as one of England's best batters. But his life ended rather surprisingly. He reportedly took his own life earlier this month after what his family described as a battle with "major depression and anxiety". 

Thorpe's contributions to Root's career was immense and it was for his advocacy that Root played Test cricket at 21. 

During England's India tour in 2012, Thorpe encouraged Root's selection. Root debuted in the drawn fourth Test in Nagpur. England won the Test series 2-1. 

So far Joe Root has played 145 Tests. With five 33 centuries (which includes 5 double tons), he has scored 12,274 runs. 

Similarly, in 171 ODIs, he has amassed 6522 runs with 16 hundreds. In the 32 T20Is, he has a total of 893 runs. Root also has 102 international wickets, which includes 69 Test, 27 ODI and 6 T20I scalps.