Senior England batter Joe Root scored his first fifty in the Test series between England and India. Root reached his half-century in 108 balls, applying a lot of patience after the early collapse of the England innings on Day 1 in the JSCA International Stadium complex.
This was the first time in the Test series that Root was seen in this avatar. The batter had failed multiple times in the last three Test matches while trying to be aggressive against the India bowlers. The pinnacle of Root’s criticism came in the third Test match in Rajkot when the batter reverse-scooped Jasprit Bumrah into the slips. Root’s wicket in England’s first innings resulted in a collapse and eventually led to England’s hapless showing in the previous Test match.
IND vs ENG, 4th Test: Day 1 Live Updates
Brendon McCullum, the head coach of the England team, had refused to criticised Root and had said that Root had the potential to be a better batter than he already was. The batter, however, played with patience in the fourth Test match, a do-or-die game for England in the series. With England down at 57 for three, Root played with patience, found the gaps in the field, and carefully notched up important partnerships.
Former England cricketer, lauded Root’s approach in the game and said that the batter had played ‘common sense ball’ instead of ‘Bazball’.
Vaughan had previously hit out at Root during the Rajkot Test match and had asked the batter to play the situation better. Vaughan had slammed Root by saying that even the England captain – Ben Stokes was not playing Bazball.
IND vs ENG, 4th Test: Full Scorecard
On the day, Root helped England go past 150, after the team had lost their first 5 wickets in the morning session of Day 1. Debutant pacer Akash Deep was at his very best and picked up 3 wickets in the first session of the game. Apart from Akash Deep, Ravindra Jadeja and veteran Ravichandran Ashwin had picked one wicket each.
At the time of writing, Joe Root was batting with Ben Foakes and had helped England put up 180 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in 53 overs.
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