Alastair Cook believes Joe Root's positivity helps 'blockers like him' to thrive
Enamored by Joe Root’s astounding talent, England skipper Alastair Cook has admitted that the former’s stroke-play enabled him to go proceed at his own pace in the second Test against Pakistan at Old Trafford.
After putting on a 185 run partnership in the first innings, the right-left combination returned to frustrate the visitors once again with another substantial stand which quickened the declaration.
Cook gushed, “(Root) is a world-class player and it was a great innings. One of the best I've seen to really set up the game for us. One thing he does very well is keep the scoreboard ticking over, so blockers like me get carried away.”
While the captain was castled by Mohammad Amir after reaching his 29th Test ton, Root kicked on and on to register a career-best 254. Armed with a mammoth total, the England bowlers were able to prey on the mental frailties of the Pakistani batsmen by applying relentless pressure.
The 31-year old affirmed, “It was us showing the standard of cricket we can play. We didn't do that at Lord's. We didn't bowl as well as we could (there), certainly didn't bat as well as we could, and dropped too many catches. We put most of those things right in this game.”
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Despite sealing a humongous 330-run win and shellacking the tourists without any mercy, the hosts were left slightly exasperated due to the injury of all-rounder Ben Stokes who remains in doubt for the third Test.
Stokes pulled up in his follow through and had to be taken out of the proceedings. The mercurial cricketer could even miss out on the rest of the summer if MRI scans indicate a torn calf muscle.
With the series currently level at 1-1, the third Test in Birmingham gains even more significance as both teams would dearly love to enter into the final match at The Oval on a positive note.