New Delhi, March 5 (IANS) England batter Joe Root revealed that he has no regrets over his choice of shot selection and expressed his commitment to maintaining high standards despite the challenges he faced.
Root was heavily criticised for getting out to a reverse scoop on the third day of the Rajkot Test. His dismissals triggered a collapse for England, who went from 207-2 to 319 all out, conceding a 126-run lead to India in a match they’d ultimately lose by 434 runs.
The 33-year-old, known for his classical approach to batting, has faced heavy scrutiny after scoring just 77 runs in six innings. Root, however, returned to form with his 31st Test hundred in the fourth Test in Ranchi but it failed to prevent England from a third-straight loss as they went down by five wickets in a nerve-wracking finish on the fourth day.
“I have high expectations of myself and until that last Test match I was way below where I want to be,” Root told Sky Sports ahead of the fifth and Final Test in Dharamshala, starting from March 7.
“I felt short of runs, I felt like I’d not contributed how I’d expect myself to and how I wanted to coming into the tour – it’s a part of the world I love batting in and I’ve had previous success here.
“I tried to just play the game in front of me. I looked at that situation and those conditions there (in Ranchi), and it didn’t need anything flamboyant. It needed someone to be a constant throughout and try to keep a calm feel to things,” he added.
After England’s humiliating 434-run loss in Ranchi, which made India seal the series with 3-0 unassailable lead, has raised questions about the effectiveness of England’s aggressive strategy ‘Bazball’ on Indian wickets.
But Root remains fully on board with the team’s approach as they prepare for the final Test of the tour in Dharamshala.
“I don’t think this team does ‘regret’. If you look at the last two years since Ben took over as captain and Brendon came in as coach, our batting lineup in particular, the consistency throughout and some of the individual performances have been in stark contrast to what they were before that.”
“The bigger picture is that it’s not about just going out there and blasting it, it’s about how can we get the best out of each other?
“We’ve found things out we didn’t know before this series. There are things, taking a more long-term view, that have set us up in a good place going forward. Obviously, results are what you’re going to get judged on externally, but there are things that have been very good throughout as well,” said Root.
