England vs India, 3rd Test, Day 2: Joe Root's 23rd Hundred Adds To India's Agony In Leeds

India vs England: Captain Joe Root's third hundred in as many Tests against India took his side closer to a series-levelling win with England placed at 423-8 at Stumps on the second day of the third Test in Leeds.

England captain Joe Root's third hundred in as many Tests against India took his side closer to a series-levelling win at the Yorkshire batsman's Headingley home ground on Thursday. Root's 121 -- his third century in as many matches this series -- was the centrepiece of England's 423-8 at stumps on the second day of the third Test as they established a huge first-innings lead of 345 after dismissing India for just 78 on Wednesday. His latest hundred saw Root join Denis Compton (1947) and Michael Vaughan (2002) as the only England batsmen to score six Test centuries in a calendar year, with the all-time record of nine, set by Pakistan's Mohammed Yousuf in 2006, now in his sights. And on a day when England mourned the death of former captain Ted Dexter, one of their most stylish batsmen, at the age of 86, Root's 23rd Test century featured several textbook shots that would have met with the approval of 'Lord Ted'. With openers Rory Burns (61) and Haseeb Hameed (68), as well as recalled No 3 Dawid Malan (70) making half-centuries, this was the first time all of England's top four had made a fifty in the same Test innings since a match against New Zealand at Dunedin in 2013. England's lack of top-order runs had been so acute they've failed to reach 50 before losing their second wicket 16 times in 20 Test innings this year.