Beware India. Root is on a roll
England skipper Joe Root has humbled the Sri Lankan bowling attack with back to back centuries. Looking like he’s back to his impeccable best, he will want to carry on the good work against India while the hosts will have to try and stop this run scoring onslaught from continuing.
The ‘Fab Four’ has now become a term every cricket follower is familiar with. The four most prolific and consistent run-scorers in international cricket, Australia’s Steven Smith, New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson, Indian captain Virat Kohli and England Test skipper Joe Root are the players normally associated with this club. While everyone the former three have never let their place in the club come under a cloud, Joe Root has often had problems maintaining his status as a Test match-winner. There have also been recurrent talks of replacing Root in the fab four with Pakistan run-machine Babar Azam. Root, England’s fourth highest Test run scorer of all time, found himself searching for runs for the better part of 2019 and 2020. Able to register just two Test centuries throughout 2019 and none in 2020, Root’s place in the fab four was on the brink of ostracization. Performances in Test cricket are what are usually compared while deciding a person’s place in the fab four, and Root’s well in the Test arena was particularly dry of late. Root enjoyed his most successful years in an England jersey from 2014 to 2016, hitting nine centuries in three years en route becoming the number one Test batsman in 2015.
That patch also happened to be golden for Aussie Steven Smith and Kiwi Kane Williamson, who also reached the pinnacle of Test batting at different points in 2015. Then started the domination of Steve Smith, who ruled international Test cricket batting charts until his ball tampering controversy and subsequent ban in 2018. Virat Kohli, lurking around down the table at number 9th in 2015, then began his journey upwards, reaching the top for the first time after Smith’s year long egress from the game. Williamson held fort at number two throughout this period, while Root kept shuffling about, not staying at a particular spot for more than a year. 2019 saw Root slip down to 5th, after Smith’s return to the top and Kohli and Williamson’s continued success, while the harsh year of 2020 chipped in with its part to send Root further down to number 8, his lowest Test ranking since 2014. After the sudden emergence of Babar Azam and Marnus Labuschagne, things were looking bad for Joe Root. This miserable situation was further exacerbated when Root was unable to register significant scores in consecutive series’ against South Africa, West Indies and Pakistan. 2021 is seeing Root rediscover his old mojo. Amidst all the discussions around Kane Williamson’s golden home summer and India’s historic triumph in Australia, Root was busy scoring runs for fun in Sri Lanka.
He scored his first Test century since 29th November 2019, which had been a mammoth 226 against New Zealand. This time, Root bettered that mark by two runs, finishing up his masterclass on 228(321), his fourth Test double hundred, to help win the Test by 7 wickets in a man of the match effort. He followed that up by an equally scintillating knock in the second Test, burying his critics under a gigantic pile of runs by scoring 186(309) before being the victim of an unfortunate run-out. This remarkable comeback meant Root had forced his way back into the top five, occupying the fifth spot after his herculean effort. Root’s resurgence spells trouble for India, who host England for a four Test series in February. The last time England toured India was in 2016–17, and Root was England’s highest run getter in the five Test series with 491 runs. Goes without saying that Root loves batting in the subcontinent, and success in Sri Lanka means that he could be equally lethal in India too, considering the fact that there is hardly any difference in conditions. One big issue with Root had always been that he had a below par fifty to hundred conversion rate, something he said he would work on before the Sri Lanka series. His dedication to make those big scores after getting to a start have been on full display so far. Prior to the Sri Lanka series, Root had 49 Test fifties and 17 centuries to his name. After three innings in Lanka, this tally has gone up to 19 centuries.
A worrisome improvement for India. Root, 30, still has a lot of time to introspect on his game and playing style, given that he is the youngest member of the fab four, a few months younger than Kane Williamson. Many people are of the opinion that after being handed captaincy in 2017, succeeding Alastair Cook, Root’s performance dipped. The pressure of leading his country resulted in his batting going through a rough phase, but all this uncertainty has undoubtedly been remedied by Root, who now looks good as ever, and could single-handedly make India look as bad. After England’s historic win in India in 2012–13 under Alastair Cook, Root would be looking to repeat those heroics yet again. India is on cloud nine after their series win in Australia, but overconfidence more often than not ruins proceedings for any individual or team, and India do not want that overconfidence and carelessness resulting in more success for Root and England. One major hurdle for India would be Root’s comfort and nonchalance in playing spin. Lasith Embuldeniya is one of Sri Lanka’s most promising new prospects, and despite picking five wickets in the first game and seven in an innings so far in the second, Root seems to negotiate his tricky bowling without much trouble. And he is surely upskilling his team batters on those nuances of negotiating the spin in the subcontinent. Ravichandran Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav know by now that they have to be excruciatingly creative and precise to manage Root.
An unhinged Root will be pernicious for the Indians. Root has consistently been rated as one of the world’s best batsmen and one of England’s greatest of all time, but his inconsistency and tendency to throw away starts has always led to criticism. The gap between the number of Test fifties and hundreds is the most for Root among the fab four. Smith’s 100s/50s record stands at 27/31, Williamson’s is 24/32, Kohli has more centuries than fifties at 27/22 while Root stares at a gap of thirty units at 19/49. This issue seems to be repaired well and fast by the Yorkshire man, who, maybe after some hidden Zen and Yoga sessions is more aggressive and sure of himself, temperamentally being seen to be able to happily erase his recent past of dipped performance and approaching every new walk to the pitch now with resilient freshness, converting his fifties to not only hundreds but double hundreds.The Sri Lanka tour has worked as one where Root and his fellow teammates have readied themselves for the much bigger Indian challenge, and to break down the wall of India’s recent success would be number one on Root’s priority list at the moment. The Root-Kohli battle will be the highlight of the series, and considering Kohli’s lack of match practice and Root’s inhuman success, one would expect the Englishman to come out on top, something India and Kohli will look to prevent.
The four Test series is being played across two venues, Chennai and Ahmedabad, and India has good records at both these venues, something they would look to build on heading into the series. Root, on the other hand, holds the record of never ending up on the losing side after scoring a Test century, so the Indians will look to stop him before he can barge through to that three figure mark, because that would statistically mean game over for India. The last meeting between the two sides was when India toured England in 2018, and Kohli’s men were absolutely thumped en route a 4–1 series defeat. England would be looking to continue the good work while India will be looking for a taste of revenge. Joseph Edward Root would want his success to permeate throughout the England dressing room and his hunt for runs will surely be continued in the near future. A man oozing out confidence clashes with an entire team full of spirited individuals, with both units looking to expand their empire of success. India will have the upper hand as they are the hosts, though England will be hoping to upset the Indians and establish themselves as the team to beat. Over a span of four Tests, one team will emerge victorious while one will come out second best. Which team will be the former and which one the latter is suddenly tough to predict courtesy Joe Root’s rediscovered throttle as these two giants of the game trade blows in this highly anticipated contest.
