Joe Root has numerous reasons to look back at the Old Trafford Test with fondness. He became the second-highest run-maker in the history of the five-day game, he also drew level with Kumar Sangakkara on 38 hundreds, the fourth most in Test history.

However, it’s the one that got away that will rankle the former England captain the most. The hosts had toiled hard to finally get rid of Shubman Gill, India’s wonderful skipper, not long after his fourth hundred of the series on the final day of the fourth Test, Jofra Archer eliciting a loose shot outside off with six minutes to lunch.

That left India in a huge spot of bother at 222-4, still 89 short of avoiding an innings defeat. Archer’s first ball to Ravindra Jadeja was short and climbing, but wide outside the off-stump. Instead of letting it sail by, the left-hander flashed hard and found an outside edge that flew to first slip. Root stretched overhead and grasped the ball, only for it to pop out immediately. Two snatches at rebounds too failed to pay dividends. India had been thrown a lifeline; Jadeja and Washington Sundar, embracing the responsibility thrust on him by his elevation to No. 5, helped India secure a fantastic draw, the duo bringing up respective centuries in the final hour, much to the dismay of a dispirited, toothless England side.