India vs England: Free from pressure to win series, Joe Root announces return to form with clinical ton

It is the first ball of the fourth day. England’s lead is 154. In the context of the series it is healthy, but at the same time, the vulnerability in England’s batting meant the hosts were still adrift from being in a commanding position. At the crease is Joe Root, 29 not out, playing his final innings of the series. He is yet to register a fifty since the first innings of the opening Test in Birmingham. England have already wrapped up the series, so the pressure is off his shoulders as a captain, but as batsmen he needs runs. Back to the first ball, Ishant Sharma steams in and hurls one down on a perfect length. Root is batting outside his crease, he moves towards the ball with supreme confidence, the front foot is to the pitch, the head position is spot-on and the ball hits the middle of the bat. It is only a defensive push, but the ball races to the mid-off fielder. There is no run, but the intent is clear. [caption id=“attachment_5160761” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] England’s Joe Root in action at the Oval on Monday. Reuters[/caption] For a player who is so dominant on the back foot, Root had struggled throughout the series to come forward despite the Indian seamers bowling that yard fuller. Root had been so reluctant to play forward that on a couple of occasions he had been trapped leg before wicket to balls that he could have combated with a nice stride. But on day four, everything was clicking nicely for him. Maybe it was the fact that Root already had a few runs under his belt as he strode out to the crease that had enabled him to keep a positive mind. Even the fifth ball, he had tried an extravagant cover drive, only to see the ball just miss the outside edge. But the England captain’s intention was obvious. It helped Root that Ishant succumbed to an ankle injury and Virat Kohli had to turn to his spinner very early in the day. This presented Root with a great opportunity to get out of his shell and play Jadeja with an open mind. There were no demons in his head and he played the ball on merit. He did not preempt any shots, defended with purpose and unsettled Jadeja with his back-foot game. Bizarrely, Kohli employed a 7-2 field for Jadeja bowling around the wicket. It meant that Jadeja had to bowl outside the off-stump, so Root decided to use that to the field to his advantage. For three overs in a row, he swept the ball through the vast spaces on the leg-side. It was brilliant, calculative and innovative batting. The runs started to flow, and as the lead crossed 200, India went on the defensive and Root changed gears rapidly. Rot’s only moments of indecision came against Jasprit Bumrah. The Indian seamer had troubled Root ever since he returned to the playing XI from the third Test. Bumrah’s ability to jag the ball sharply from wide of the crease and also to get it to straighten had caused all sorts of problems to the English skipper. He had tried to negotiate Bumrah by changing his guard from middle stump to even outside the line of his off-stump. It was an attempt to ensure he left balls outside his eye-line, but Bumrah had undone him twice, by bringing the ball in and trapping him LBW. At the Oval, Root had reverted to an off-stump guard and while there were times when his head did fall across the line, he ensured on the majority of the occasions that his head went towards the ball. It was only a minor adjustment and perhaps a lot of it had come due to his intent to meet the ball. Slowly, he started to counter Bumrah, and with time at the crease, managed to hit a couple of lovely drives against the Indian pacer. Once Root crossed fifty, the feet were moving in a manner that we had all become accustomed to. There were back-foot punches, the front-foot drives and the elegant flicks. It had all suddenly come back, the cheeky grin was back on his face and for the first time in the series, he had started to enjoy his batting. Perhaps the best decision Root had made was on the second night of the fourth Test match at Southampton. He had decided to chat with the team management and drop himself down to No 4. It is the spot that he feels the most assured and comfortable in, especially given that he is penciled in as England’s long-term skipper in the longer formats. The change of position enables him that extra time to regather his thoughts before walking out to bat. The minute Root scored his hundredth run, one could see the jubilation on his face. At the time England had already moved into a commanding position, but for Root to battle through a tough series as a batsman and a skipper, and then sign-off on a high is something he will reflect on and be really satisfied with. All that is left now is to finish the series 4-1.