New Delhi: In the 2025 Champions Trophy match at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore England faced a narrow defeat against Afghanistan by eight runs in a tense final-over finish. However Joe Root made a significant impact by scoring a remarkable century which played a crucial role in keeping England competitive throughout the game. In a challenging chase for a substantial target of 326 Jos Buttlers team saw wickets tumbling but Joe Root managed to score 120 runs off 111 balls featuring 11 fours and one six. This marked Roots 17th century in One Day Internationals and his first in nearly six years with his previous ODI century occurring during the 2019 Cricket World Cup against the West Indies in Southampton. Root has scored three centuries in successful chases of over 300 runs in ICC tournaments. He scored these centuries against Bangladesh during the 2017 Champions Trophy at The Oval and against Pakistan in the 2019 World Cup in Nottingham. No other player has matched his record of centuries while chasing totals exceeding 300 in international events. Kumar Sangakkara and Shakib al Hasan have each recorded two centuries in similar situations. Root has now scored two centuries while chasing in both the ODI World Cup and the Champions Trophy. His century against the West Indies in 2019 also occurred during a run-chase. No other player has recorded more than one century in run-chases in these ICC ODI tournaments. Joe Root has now achieved four centuries while pursuing runs in ICC ODI tournaments ranking him second overall. Rohit Sharma leads with five centuries. Kumar Sangakkara Shakib Al Hasan and Rachin Ravindra have each recorded three centuries. This marks the third time Joe Root has scored a century in an ICC event where England ended up losing. Previously he achieved this against Sri Lanka in the 2015 World Cup and Pakistan in the 2019 World Cup both resulting in defeats for his team. Only Herschelle Gibbs has more centuries (four) in losing efforts during global competitions. Gibbs recorded two centuries each in the Champions Trophy (2000 2002) and the Cricket World Cup (1999 2003) that did not lead to victories for South Africa. Notably Root is the only player to have scored two centuries in losing causes while chasing in ICC ODI events whereas Gibbs has three centuries in losing situations while batting first and just one while batting second. Joe Root has achieved five tons in ICC ODI matches matching the records of Gibbs Gayle and Tilakaratne Dilshan. The only players with more centuries are David Warner Kumar Sangakkara Virat Kohli Shikhar Dhawan (all with six) Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting (seven each) and Rohit Sharma (eight).