There is no clarity on Virat Kohli‘s return yet and India captain Rohit Sharma has been off-colour with the bat so far in the first two matches of the Test series against England. Joe Root said England would be happy to keep the Indian legends quiet throughout the five-match series. Kohli didn’t take part in the Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam Tests due to personal reasons. It is still not clear whether he will return for the remaining three Tests but Root said the England team is prepared not only for Kohli but also for Rohit, who hasn’t been at his best in the series so far.
“You mentioned two of the greats (Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli) of the modern era. Of course, there’s going to be focus. We know how good they are and they are also very senior within this current Indian batting lineup. So clearly they’ve got a big role to play within this Test team. You want to make sure that you try and get on top of them early. They’ve got the ability to get big scores and we’ve been on the wrong end of that a few times, so it would be nice to try and keep them as quiet as we can throughout the series,” Root said on Jio Cinema.
Root, who himself has been short of runs in this series, mainly due to the brilliance of Jasprit Bumrah who has already got him out twice in two Tests, however, said there are no team meetings in the England camp for any particular player of the opposition.
“We don’t really do team meetings anymore. That’s one of the great things about how we do all of our conversations away from the game and just that enjoyment and buzz about spending time with each other. We don’t have to sit in a meeting room and I think it’s more authentic and more genuine when you can have it around a dinner table. Having a coffee in the morning or whatever, I think that’s when you do your best learning,” he added.
England will stick to Bazball: Root
England started the five-match series on the perfect note by defeating India in Hyderabad despite being 190 runs behind after the first innings. England’s Bazball style of play came under scrutiny after they were bowled out cheaply on a decent batting surface where India piled on 400-plus. Root said the failure in the first innings didn’t put any doubt in their mind and the way they bounced back in the second innings was for everyone to see.
“Regardless, of the result of the game, we’re always going to play how we know. It’s what’s given us success for a good period of time now. It’s what brings the best out of us. We’ve been in similar situations before. The last time we played India in England, in that one-off Test, we were miles behind in the game and we managed to chase that score down. There have been numerous other occasions where we’ve done things that we never thought we could have done before. So, we’ll never stop believing, we’ll never feel like we’re out of the game,” the former England captain said.
The series hangs in balance after India gave a strong reply by winning the second Test by 106 runs. Root and the rest of the England cricketers are currently in Abu Dhabi enjoying some time off the game. They will return to India before the third Test in Rajkot on February 15.
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