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‘Virat's team will play how they play’: Joe Root wants England ‘not to get distracted’ in Headingley Test
England captain Joe Root has admitted that his team has learnt its lessons from the previous game and will not be drawn into the conversations needlessly.
The second Test between India and England at Lord’s witnessed an intense competition between the two teams. The visitors handled the on-field banter comfortably and channelled their emotions to defeat the hosts by 151 runs. With a 1-0 lead in the series, more aggression could be expected from Team India in the next face-off which begins on Wednesday at Headingley.
Joe Root, on the other hand, has admitted that his team has learnt its lessons from the previous game and will not be drawn into the conversations needlessly. While addressing a virtual presser on Monday, the home team captain said England would avoid getting distracted.
“We've got to be genuine to ourselves, genuine to how we are as individuals and how we are collectively and be as good as we can, the way that we go. Virat's team will play how they play, I just want us to go out and be the best version of ourselves,” Root said.
“I think there were always conversations you always try to find one percenter in ways you can deal with different situations. We've done some good learning off the back of the last game I think we could have managed certain areas differently, me as the captain, we could have gone about things slightly differently.
“We have got three massive games to play in this series, there's a lot to play for. And you know we're desperate to bounce back strongly,” he added.
The skipper, who has been scoring the bulk of the runs for his team, is confident that under-fire batting line-up will come good.
“The most important thing about batting in Test cricket revolves around big partnerships, when two guys back for a period of time the game can look completely different. And that's got to be our focus as a batting group. Starting your innings in England can be the hardest thing to do,” Root said.
(With PTI Inputs)
