JOE’S AT THE ROOT OF IT ALL
Selfish skipper ready to go toe-to-toe with Kohli for star billing
IT might have taken him 100 Tests to realise it, but Joe Root has finally accepted that England are at their best when he is the centre of attention.
And on the eve of what he hopes can become the greatest achievement of his captaincy, India have been put on notice his new streak of selfishness is designed only to hurt them.
Having the spotlight centred on Root is not something he has ever craved in his remarkable career so far.
In fact, he would actively nudge someone else up there to take the plaudits and glory.
But Root’s modest, quiet but effective style of both playing and leading the side does not have to be in conflict with his single-minded ability to score the runs that others would struggle to make.
And after seeing how England can thrive with him as the star of the show in Sri Lanka, Root is happy to go toe-to-toe with Virat Kohli for headline billing.
“It feels great to get to 100 and it means a huge amount,” said Root. “The young kid from Sheffield aged seven who was dreaming of playing for England would be very proud I’m sat here now.
“I feel that all the experience I’ve gathered along the way, it does make you a better player. Actually in the last two games, I’ve tried to be a bit more selfish with my batting and single-minded, knowing if I bat for a long period of time I make big runs.
“It sounds simple and you might ask ‘Why has it taken you 99 games to figure it out?’ But I’m just desperate for us to do well collectively and that’s naturally how I’ve always tried to think about the game.
“But certainly that selfish mindset helped me out in the middle recently.
“It will be great for Virat to be back out there as well. We want to play against the best and you want to beat the very best.
“If we did that, what a scalp that would be for us. As a captain I think it would be my biggest achievement.”
If England are to beat India in their own backyard they will need to do something utterly extraordinary that has only been done once in the last 17 years – and 27 series – by Sir Alastair Cook’s side back in 2012.
It was a victory built on brilliant batting, something this England side could match, although Cook had the genius of their two spinners Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar. The likelihood of Somerset pair Dom Bess and Jack Leach following suit with Moeen Ali also in the picture instinctively feels remote, but heroes can be made in series like this.
And Root is backing Jofra Archer to be one of them with the chance to show the Indian players he can cause them problems with a red ball for England as well as a white one for the Rajasthan Royals.
Root, who is sweating on a suspected fractured wrist sustained by Zak Crawley in training, said: “In T20 cricket Jofra has proven to India he is a force to be reckoned with out here.
“He should take all the confidence from that ahead of these games. There’s no reason why he can’t do it this time in the
Test shirt.”
If we won, it would be my greatest moment