CUTTACK: When Joe Root was trapped on the pads trying to play Ravindra Jadeja off the backfoot in Nagpur, it seemed like he had joined an already struggling England batting line-up who hadn’t been able to take on the Indian spinners.
But before that innings, Root hadn’t played a single One Day International in over 14 months. His last outing in the 50-over format was against Pakistan during the 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup in Kolkata. Understandably, he was a bit rusty.
Fortunately, it was just that. In the time since the ODI World Cup, Root has not just piled on runs for fun in Test cricket but also has climbed several peaks. By and large, he had been the best run-getter in the world in this period while also becoming the best England has ever produced. At the other end of the spectrum, he was playing T20 leagues for fun. In fact, even before coming to India, Root was in South Africa, playing for Paarl Royals in the SA20 League.
While he has a pragmatic understanding on where he stands as a T20I batter, there is no question about Root’s credentials in ODIs. If anything, he was perhaps the missing piece of the troubling approach England has taken in the format. And it showed on Sunday as Root portrayed a sense of comfort in not just handling Jadeja, Varun Chakravarthy and Axar Patel but also keeping the scoreboard moving.
Even when someone like Brook was struggling to rotate the strike against Jadeja, Root kept pushing for the quick singles and doubles as he always has. When he was batting against spinners, it seemed as if his feet were in auto drive mode. He used the crease to the fullest, judged the lengths with ease while moving forward and backward to pick up the singles. In a knock that lasted 72 balls, Root ran 37 singles and four doubles apart from the six fours he hit on his way to a quiet 69.
Right from landing in India, England captain Jos Buttler had been talking about one thing. To keep the momentum going, and put India under pressure for prolonged periods. And the key to doing that in this format is perhaps having someone like Root bat through the innings while the rest express themselves and take calculated risks.
That is what made the England team so successful between 2015 and 2019. The Jason Roys and Jonny Bairstows and Ben Stokes might have grabbed headlines but behind them was a Root who scored 12 hundreds and 25 fifties at an average of 58.75 and a strike rate of 90.83 during that World Cup cycle. It is also telling that Root hasn’t scored a single century (he averages 30.16 post-2019 WC) since which sort of coincides with the slump England have been through since the home WC triumph in this particular format.
Which is why, despite Root getting out at the wrong time in Cuttack, him getting some runs and spending time in the middle would give England some confidence. For he will be the anchor around whom the rest of the batting line-up tries to be explosive. "He's been someone we always rely on, can play that role to bat a lot of time. He doesn't face many dot balls, but he's always scoring at a good rate and he's a very consistent player. So, yeah, (he is a) really important guy in our team," Buttler said in Cuttack on Sunday.
Both Buttler and England will be hoping that Root continues from where he left not just in Ahmedabad but also during the Champions Trophy. After all, as it has been the case for the better part of the last decade, when Root is out in the middle, England breathes easy.