Joe Root hits the first six of International League T20 to Akeal Hosein, video goes viral

Joe Root: (Image Source: Twitter)

The much-anticipated International League T20 2022 is underway. The first match of the tournament took place between Dubai Capitals and Abu Dhabi Knight Riders at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Saturday.

English cricketer Joe Root has been bought by Dubai Capitals in the tournament. He opened the innings for the franchise in the first match of ILT20 on Friday. Root walked out to bat with Robin Uthappa and also smashed the fix six of the tournament.

Facing Akeal Hosein in the 4th over, Root smashed him over mid-wicket boundary for a six on the fourth ball and, thereby, recorded his name in the history books.

Watch the video here:

The first six in International League T20 history goes to Joe Root! 👏

BT Sport 1 | @ILT20Official pic.twitter.com/EHRpiTJz6q

— Cricket on BT Sport (@btsportcricket) January 13, 2023

Though, he didn’t go on to play a big knock as the England cricketer got out after scoring 26 runs in 21 deliveries.

Interestingly, Joe Root isn’t part of England’s T20I set-up and isn’t considered a destructive hitter, either. Despite that, Dubai Capitals bought his services for the inaugural season. It will be interesting to see how he fares for the rest of the tournament.

With that association, Root hopes to take some experience from the competition and stake a claim in England’s ODI team for the 2023 World Cup.

“I have a lot of experience in playing 50-over cricket now. I have got a good understanding of how to play in ODIs.

“I really want to develop my white-ball game further and if there is anything that I can add to my 50-over game, it will come from playing more T20 cricket and putting myself in situations I have not found myself frequently during the course of my career so far,” said Root, earlier.

Talking about the first match, Dubai Capitals notched a formidable score of 187 runs in the first innings, thanks to a superb knock of 48 runs in 29 balls from Rovman Powell. In reply, Abu Dhabi Knight Riders could only manage to score 114 runs, thereby losing the match by 73 runs.

The second match is slated to be played between MI Emirates and Sharjah Warriors on Saturday at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.