England skipper Joe Root has stamped his authority in the ongoing series against India with two Tests still left. Three successive hundreds in three Tests and 507 runs at an average of 126.75 make for stunning returns. He single-handedly kept England in the game in the first two Tests before the top-order rallied around him to win the third Test, levelling the series 1-1.
As the Indian think tank prepares its strategy for the fourth Test starting on Thursday, finding
England skipper Joe Root has stamped his authority in the ongoing series against India with two Tests still left. Three successive hundreds in three Tests and 507 runs at an average of 126.75 make for stunning returns. He single-handedly kept England in the game in the first two Tests before the top-order rallied around him to win the third Test, levelling the series 1-1.
As the Indian think tank prepares its strategy for the fourth Test starting on Thursday, finding a way to stop Root will dominate the bowlers’ meeting. His record at the Oval against India is intimidating—two hundreds in two Tests—149* in 2014 and 125 in 2018. In the other five Tests, and 10 innings, he has only managed three fifties.
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On Tuesday, Root attributed his fine run to clear thinking. “My decision making probably (is the key), I feel like I have managed the innings pretty well throughout the course of this series… I feel like I have a nice balance between attack and defence. I am picking the length pretty well. These things pretty stand out. Hopefully I can carry out these for the rest of this series and beyond,” he said.
Simple tactics
According to CricViz Analyst, Root has been cautious against strike bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami and successfully targeted the others. Of the four times he has been dismissed in this series, Bumrah has got him thrice but early only once—for 33 in the Lord’s second innings.
“He’s generally not looked to attack Bumrah or Shami as much as the change bowlers, and has been particularly successful against Ishant (Sharma),” says the analyst. In other words, India’s strategy to field five bowlers has worked against the others but not Root. The England No 4 has scored freely against India’s third and fourth pacers as well as spinner Ravindra Jadeja.
It is why India need to change the bowling combination, to apply sustained pressure on Root when Bumrah and Shami take a breather. His attack percentage (Att%) against Bumrah is 17.5 (99 runs off 171 balls) and Shami is 23.7 (86 runs off 139 balls). (Att% is not runs scored against balls faced off a bowler but the attacking shots played).
While India skipper Virat Kohli has looked to attack Root with Mohammed Siraj’s incoming balls, the batsman has continued to attack the bowler (142 runs off 203 balls –Att% 28). He has especially targeted Sharma with an Att% of 39 (62 runs off 82 balls). A fine player of spin, his Att% against Jadeja is 27.8 (88 runs off 169 balls).
Kiwi planning
India can learn from how New Zealand stopped Root while winning the two-Test series in England before their World Test Championship final success over India. The Kiwis restricted Root to a top score of 42 in four innings.
Root’s percentage of attacking strokes against Tim Southee (5.8) and Kyle Jamieson (12.1) shows how he was tied down. There was no respite against the others too. His Att% was 18.1 against Colin de Grandhomme, 19.4 against Neil Wagner, 22.7 against Matt Henry and 27.2 against left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel. Only against the other left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner did he bat freely in the Lord’s Test (Att% 61.7).
“He attacked Patel roughly the same as Jadeja, but was unable to score against him,” CricViz says while underlining how Root picks the bowlers to attack. The onus thus will be on India’s back-up bowlers to stop Root from running away with the series.
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