ENG v IND 2021: Playing white-ball cricket against Sri Lanka benefitted me, says Joe Root after Nottingham ton

Joe Root made 64 and 109 in the first Test against India in Nottingham.

England captain Joe Root was the flavor for the home side in the ongoing first Test at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, against India. He scored his 21^st Test century in the second innings helping England put 303 runs on the board and setting India a target of 209 runs.

Root, who failed to reach a half-century in his last five Tests, scored 64 in the first innings and then put up 109 to help England put up a much-improved batting show in their second innings. England had made 183 runs in the first innings and India had replied with 278.

Speaking about his century, Root said that playing white-ball cricket against Sri Lanka recently helped him get back into rhythm. He was referring to the series against Sri Lanka in June-July where he returned with unbeaten knocks of 68 and 79.

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“It felt pretty good to get a big score and get us into position to give us a chance of winning this Test. I’ve actually felt a real benefit from playing some white-ball cricket (in Sri Lanka). It would be nice to have some red-ball cricket coming into this game but, from my point of view, playing 50-over cricket gave me some rhythm back in my batting,” Root said in a virtual press conference.

He further said that he is reaping dividends from a few technical changes that he brought in to play ODI cricket.

“More than anything, up from New Zealand (Lord’s Test) I’ve changed a few things. I felt I got forward and back better. I was standing a lot taller a lot earlier, picking my bat up a lot earlier, I feel like I’ve got the rhythm back in my hands. I find 50-over cricket can be a massive help to my red-ball game,” Root added.

Root had scored two double centuries in three matches at the start of 2021, including the 218 in the Chennai Test as he became the first to surpass the 1,000-mark this calendar year. He now has 1,064 Test runs in 2021.

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“I was probably a little bit too excited. The five, 10 minutes leading into getting the hundred was a bit hairy as well, so there was probably a bit of relief. As always you’d want more runs to play with, there’s no doubt about that, but you’ve seen throughout this whole game there’s been times when clusters of wickets have fallen and the game’s really flipped on its head,” Root said.

Root also spoke about the verbal spats between England batsmen and India pacer Mohammed Siraj and dismissed them as nice banter.

“In terms of my own form, it feels very good. I just want to keep it going,” he concluded.

(PTI inputs)