Root must find a way to conquer his nemesis

AFTER the way Joe Root played yesterday, the debate has resurfaced. Does Bazball suit the way he plays?

Root’s 16 off 10 balls was a frenetic innings. Whether his finger was hurting, whether he was thinking about the impending challenge of facing his nemesis Jasprit Bumrah and felt the need to go after the spinners, or whether he was immersed in captain Ben Stokes’ positive mindset, only he knows.

But the narrative will be that Bazball doesn’t work for him, when actually the statistics tell you otherwise. In 20 Tests over the past 20 months, Root has averaged 52.63. Previously, it was 49.19 in 117.

A similar discussion began in New Zealand a year ago when he tried to reverse sweep Neil Wagner and found slip. The question was asked — should he be doing that? Not so much when he started off the morning of an Ashes day last summer by hitting a six with the same shot. Yes, there is a part of me that wants Joe Root just to be Joe Root. To be the glue, a world-class player, possibly the best England player of all time. But he’s loving playing in this team, and at 33 that’s a real positive. He always has a good tempo to his batting. You never look at him and think ‘he’s gone into his shell’. He’s a world-class player of spin but maybe the bounce in Vizag worried him and he felt he couldn’t sweep. Remember, he top-edged one to get out in Hyderabad. Instead, he looked to hit down the ground but Ravi Ashwin, bowling around the wicket, created an angle that meant he fatally played across the line.

The damage was not done with that stroke though. It came in Bumrah’s spell of six for 45, starting with the dismissal of Root, on day two. Root (above) has always found a way to counter his biggest challenges and right now it is Bumrah.

As a series progresses, individual battles are created and you can bet India captain Rohit Sharma will get Bumrah on to him. Once a bowler’s got one over on you it’s a mental thing as much as technical. You know what’s coming and there will likely be six more innings of it.