Root hails Cook, Jimmy after perfect finish
› For Alastair to go out like that, and Jimmy to finish the game off in real style was so fitting for those two guys – who are really close mates.
› On a fitting finale to the series What Jimmy has achieved, and what he’s capable of achieving still, is astounding really. The most exciting thing is he’s bowling at his best. On Anderson’s feat
LONDON: England skipper Joe Root hailed a perfect finish to the series against India after Alastair Cook got a winning farewell and spearhead James Anderson took the last wicket to emerge the most successful fast bowler.
To top it, leg-spinner Adil Rashid, who has faced criticism since Root pushed for his selection despite the bowler refusing to play first-class cricket for Yorkshire, got one to rip and turn from the rough outside leg to hit off-stump and dismiss KL Rahul for 149.
Once Rashid broke Rahul’s threatening 204-run partnership with fellow centurion Rishabh Pant, it gave England control to win the match in the final session.
“For Alastair to go out like that, and Jimmy to finish the game off in real style was so fitting for those two guys – who are really close mates. They’re going to miss playing with each other,” Root said after the match.
“When you saw Alastair’s hundred, you could see the guys on the balcony what it meant to them,” he said about Cook’s 147 in his final innings with Root scoring 125 at the other end.
RASHID’S MAGIC
Rashid’s delivery to the well-set Rahul (149), who was stunned as he played defensively, will be mentioned in the same breath as Shane Warne’s “ball of the century” leg-break to bowl Mike Gatting in the first 1993 Ashes Test at Old Trafford.
“It was a brilliant delivery. Rash has that in him – that’s why we have him in the side, because he has the ability to change games, turn situations like that on their head,” Root said.
Rashid vindicated persisting with him ahead of off-spinner Moeen Ali by also having Pant caught in the deep and effectively end India’s resistance.
“Credit has to go to those two guys (Rahul and Pant) for the way they played in that middle session … they made it very difficult for us. We came off at tea with all three results still possible – which for me shows Test cricket is in a really good place.”
Root hoped Anderson, England’s most capped player after the retired Cook, continues to play on beyond the Sri Lanka tour at the yearend and next year’s Ashes series at home. Anderson, 36, is looking to take it game by game. “What Jimmy has achieved, and what he’s capable of achieving still, is astounding really,” Root said. “For him to be in the same league as Mcgrath, and now chasing the big two spinners, is phenomenal.
“The most exciting thing is he’s bowling at his best … and I can see that carrying forward for a long time still. I hope there’s going to be a number of series in the future where he is leading the attack, and terrorising batters.”