I would cut it. But let's see what others have to say.

I would wrap it around the rest of the root ball, with the end/tip facing down. Planted in the ground it would become the tap root

Wrapping it around the root ball sounds horrible. Bury it straight down or cut it to promote more lateral growth.

Thanks for all the replies. I accidentally cut off a good portion of the tap root by mistake. Hopefully, there will be new lateral roots soon.

Silica - I didn't realize that that was reason for the long tap root. I noticed this on my other seed grown citrus (which I haven't repotted yet). I thought the long root was just a citrus tree thing - good to know otherwise. Unfortunately, I'm in zone 6 so it'll be a container tree.

I do the same with all of my plants; tropicals, annuals and vegetables. First months I keep them in a smallish mesh pot and let the air do the pruning. I plant them in bigger pots first when I notice the growth slow down.

The only thing I do, is I choose the depth of the mesh pot that is best suitable for the growing habit of the plant. For example with mango I used 30cm deep but only 10cm wide pot due to its habit to grow long main roots. I often end up making these myself.

The final pots I use are mostly with a underwatering resevoir, and I cut the roots if they grow from the holes beneath.

My goal with every plant is to keep the pot same size as the foliage(not including the first mesh-pots..). Thats probably the key why I rarely have rootbound ones..