Joe Root's century a validation of fact that England got carried away with Bazball

As the saying goes, form is temporary but class is permanent.

The expression holds especially true for senior England batter and former captain Joe Root, who had been going through something of a horror run in the ongoing tour of India but managed to shake off the lean patch with an emphatic century on the opening day of the fourth Test on Friday.

Heading into the fourth Test at Ranchi’s JSCA International Stadium, the 33-year-old had scored just 77 runs in six outings in the series at a meagre average of 12.83. Root, in fact, had bowled more overs at that point than he had scored runs in the series, and had a lot more success with the ball — finishing the pick of the English bowlers in Hyderabad with figures of 4/79 in India’s first innings.

And a major talking point when analysing Root’s struggles in the ongoing series was the manner in which he was getting dismissed. The English batters have gone all-out with their ‘Bazball’ approach in this series and have not been shying away from their shots even if it ends up backfiring on them.

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That was indeed the case with Root, who had been dismissed playing the sweep or the reverse sweep in this series more often than not, including off Jasprit Bumrah’s bowling in Rajkot, throwing his wicket away at a crucial stage. England would crumble after Root’s departure and eventually get bowled out for 319 from 224/2, which would have a lasting impact on the match.

Root wouldn’t have faced this much pressure since the final days of his tenure as England Test captain, and the sharp-tongued British press would’ve been readying their knives, waiting to pounce on the senior batter at the end of the series.

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The 33-year-old, however, managed to put the horror run behind and silence his critics in style with what surely will go down as one of his finest knocks ever, coming to the visitors’ rescue when they had lost three early wickets thanks to an inspired spell from India debutant Akash Deep and found themselves in a dire situation at 112/5.

By bringing up his 31st Test hundred and stitching valuable partnerships with the likes of Ben Foakes and Ollie Robinson, Root not only ensured England avoided getting bowled out for less than 200 for a second consecutive innings, but ended the day at a position from where they still can hope of mounting a comeback for the ages.

So what changed for Root on Friday? The answer’s rather simple — ditch Bazball and go back to the style of play that had brought so much success. All Root had to remember was the fact that he had collected nearly 10,000 Test runs up until the home series against New Zealand in the summer of 2022 — which marked the beginning of the ‘Bazball’ Era. He must’ve done something right batting the way he does to figure among England’s leading run-scorers of all time in the most elite of cricket’s formats.

Root was batting on 16 off 41 deliveries when England skipper Ben Stokes, who won the toss for a change and opted to bat right away, was trapped LBW off a Ravindra Jadeja delivery that stayed low enough to be considered a grubber.

His innings was off to a nervy start, getting hit on the pad off an inswinging delivery from Akash that elicited a confident shout for LBW, only to be turned down. And he had collected a couple of boundaries up until Stokes’ dismissal at the stroke of lunch, both scored off a traditional shot — the cut.

The ‘Bazball’ approach has English batters doing the kind of things that is bound to raise eyebrows everywhere but has been working in their favour more often than not. And in this style of play, going for a counter-attack even in a situation as grim as the one Root found himself in at the end of the morning session wouldn’t be considered too far-fetched.

Root, however, did exactly what the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill did during India’s second innings in Rajkot after Rohit Sharma was dismissed early — play according to the situation. And the senior batter did a pretty good job at curbing his newly-developed instincts to go for the unorthodox shots, playing just one reverse sweep the entire day and refusing to play a sweep shot until he was more than a hundred deliveries into his innings.

Root's self-discipline really reminding me of Sachin, who famously also didn't play a single reverse scoop during his 241* at the SCG.

— Pavilion Opinions (@pavilionopinion) February 23, 2024

He would consume 226 runs for his unbeaten 106 that would be considered too old-fashioned for the current England Test team and their ultra-aggressive batting style, collecting nine boundaries along the way — the last of which brought up his first century for England in any format since last year’s Ashes.

Root’s celebrations naturally were emphatic, given he had managed to get the monkey off his shoulder after facing so much flak in recent weeks. Perhaps the only individual who was just as happy as Root at that moment was captain Stokes, who had a broad grin on his face in the dressing room, with Root even making the gesture with his pinky finger that has become Stokes’ trademark celebration.

Pinky promise 🤙

So what's going on here?!#INDvENG pic.twitter.com/edIWiFerYT

— Cricket on TNT Sports (@cricketontnt) February 23, 2024

Stokes had stood firm in his support for Root as recently as the 434-run hammering in Rajkot. “Who am I to question a guy who has 30 Test match hundreds, nearly 12,000 Test match runs? I think he knows what he’s doing,” is what Stokes had said after the defeat at Rajkot on Sunday.

Five days later, Root repaid the faith that Stokes had shown in him with a knock for the ages.

Opener Zak Crawley added that the visitors were chuffed to bits for Root, and that his skills with the bat were never really in doubt in the first place.

“We’re chuffed for him, to be honest. We never doubted Joe, we just think if he gets couple of lowies, he’s even more due than before, so we fully expected him to go out and get runs in this game. He deserves everything he gets, he works so hard at his game and he always comes good.

“He’s probably the only bloke in our team who could have done that knock; he’s that good, he’s our best player and he’s stepped up when we needed him to. We needed him to get a score, and he got a score like he’s done for so many years now. He’s just a phenomenal player, one of the best — if not the best — player we’ve ever had for England,” Crawley said after stumps on Day 1.

Root can afford to relax, but only for a bit. There’s still a job to be done when he resumes his eight-wicket partnership with Robinson on Saturday. He managed to steer England out of troubled waters on the opening day. However, with the visitors currently trailing Rohit Sharma and Co 1-2 and facing a must-win situation in Ranchi, skipper Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum will be hoping the veteran continues to bat the way he did and take the innings as far as he can from here.

England already have a competitive score on the board at the moment, but another 100 runs on the board might just make things real interesting not just in the fourth Test but the remainder of the series as a whole.