India might lack the experience but we won't take them lightly: Root
With several big names having recently retired — Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Stuart Broad and James Anderson, to name a few — the Indian and England Test teams must now go through a period of transition. There is, however, one comforting constant.
If ever England need an experienced statesman to carry the load, they can turn to Joe Root. A prolific run-scorer with 153 Tests under his belt, Root has revelled as the side's batting mainstay. Speaking ahead of the start of the five Test India-England series, Root reminisced about being a wide-eyed youngster making his Test debut against India in 2012.
Among the greats of the game, Root expects a tough fight from the Indians, even as he misses going up against his ultimate contemporary, Virat Kohli.
Excerpts:
You are 283 runs short of overtaking Rahul Dravid to become the fourth highest run scorer in Test cricket history. If you could go back to the start of your career, did you ever think that you would ever reach this milestone?
I couldn't believe my luck when I walked out to bat in that debut Test match in Nagpur. I would have been so proud of myself if I had just played that Test alone. To get the opportunity to play so many games for England is obviously a huge privilege for me. It is something I'm extremely proud of. It's been so much fun till now. I want to keep going and enjoying it for as long as I can.
Patience, stubbornness, willingness to bide one's time — these are qualities that make classical Test batting. Do you think that these qualities are in short supply in today's game?
No, I don't think that Test cricket is short on those things. It is just that cricket across all formats is ever evolving, it's ever changing. Players are always trying to find different ways to get ahead of the curve, to try and outsmart the opposition, and stay ahead of trends. In Test cricket, teams have more modes of operandi now. There is more variety - you have different types of bowlers, more left armers, more varied spinners, and guys who use the crease a lot more than they would have done 20 years ago. There are a lot more subtle changes that I think the introduction of white-ball cricket and T20 cricket has provided Test cricket. But the element of stubbornness, willingness to be tough and outlast — these are all really important qualities even now, even if the game is played a little bit quicker.
What do you make of this Indian team, especially considering the new leadership and relatively inexperienced batting line-up?
I think that this is an extremely talented Indian team. Indian cricket has a huge amount of depth now across all formats. It must be quite difficult sometimes to pick a playing eleven because there are so many good players to pick from. It is going to be a really strong series on both ends. Obviously, we're a very strong side in our own conditions, but India have got a lot of bases covered. They've got a brilliant seam attack, quality spinners at home and away and so much talent with the bat. They might lack that experience that they may have had on previous tours, but we won't be taking them lightly. India are going to play good, strong, hard cricket. They always do. It should be a ripper of a series.
How do you view Shubman Gill, the new India Test captain?
I think he'll want to put his stamp on things. He'll want to lead his team in his own way. It's always exciting for any team when they start a new era. We've been through that ourselves with Ben (Stokes) in the last couple of years. It's been so much fun, and I'm sure it'll be the same for the Indian players. We expect some high-quality cricket. What more could you want, really? As a player, you want to play against the best teams in the world and you want to perform in those environments. And we'll have some brilliant crowds. There'll be great atmosphere in the grounds. We're expected to have good weather this week, so it should be a great start to things and a very exciting five matches ahead.
Virat (Kohli) and Rohit (Sharma) will not feature in this series. Do you feel the competitiveness between India and England will reduce as a result?
Cricket is poorer with them not being around. They are two Indian legends, who have done amazing things for Indian cricket for such a long period of time. But their departure brings an opportunity for others to step in and show what they can do for India. So it'll be a slightly different look to things, but we still expect it to be highly competitive.
Does Kohli's retirement reduce the motivation when it comes to your competition with him?
I never felt like I've been in competition with Virat. He is someone I've always admired and thought, 'Wow, what a player.' I'm sure he's going to do special things for India for a long period of time to come yet in ODI cricket. But I've never felt like I was competing against him. You're trying to play the situation. You're trying to play the bowlers in front of you. But yes, when you play against Virat, he makes his presence felt and known. That's his nature as a player, and that's how he gets the best out of himself. I'll miss those battles we had on the field, but as I say, it just provides new opportunities for other players to try and put their mark on Test cricket and create new dynamics.
You are 15 centuries away from Sachin Tendulkar's record of most number of hundreds in Test cricket. Do you think that you'll be able to break this record?
It's always dangerous when you set yourself targets and records. I think you always end up letting yourself down or being disappointed because you've either set the target too low or you've missed it and you've fallen short. What keeps me motivated is trying to find ways of affecting the game as frequently as possible. And that could come in many different ways, shapes and forms. It might be catching at slip, it might be trying to nick a few wickets with off-spin. Hopefully, a lot of the time will be with scoring heavily with the bat. But that all comes down to managing the situations, managing the conditions well, and the different bowler types.
There are reports that the ICC plans to introduce four-day Tests. What are your views on this proposal?
I don't really understand why you'd need to change it to four days. Especially coming from England where it rains a lot, you're basically asking for more draws, which nobody really wants. You don't want a match to peter out on day four because there's not enough time left. It doesn't really make sense to me. You're basically saying you're losing out on that for — I don't really understand for what reason — other than trying to clear a couple of days in the calendar.
(Watch India's tour of England from June 20 (3.30 p.m.) live on Sony Sports Ten 1 & Sony Sports Ten 5 channels).
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