"I feel in a good place, obviously feel great on the back of those scores from last week" - England captain Joe Root
England captain Joe Root has stated he is feeling up to the mark and that the multiple breaks he got from bio-bubbles earlier this year have held him in good stead. He will go into the second Test against India starting on Thursday after delivering a Man of the Match performance in Nottingham last week.
England have lately been known to shuffle their playing XI – regardless of the players’ form – to balance the toll bio-secure bubbles take on everyone. Star all-rounder Ben Stokes was the latest example when he pulled out of the five-Test series to safeguard his mental well-being.
Even England head coach Chris Silverwood was on a holiday before he had to come back with immediate effect after COVID-19 cases forced England to field a completely new side for the three ODIs against Pakistan last month. While almost everyone is free to take a break as and when needed, the skipper is unlikely to enjoy similar freedom when it comes to workload management.
But Joe Root revealed skipping the limited-overs leg of the India tour in March this year and having no workload when many of his England teammates were plying their trade in the IPL have worked in his favor.
“Now, at the start of the year, you look at how the year is likely to pan out and beforehand try and plan your breaks within that. I missed obviously the 50-overs series in India and that was an opportunity for me to have a break. I am not in the IPL currently, so again that was another area which I got time at home,” Joe Root said in response to a question asked by Sportskeeda.
And he was back hungry. In the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka in June-July, Joe Root finished as the highest run-getter with 147 runs from 2 innings. He has now carried his form into England's high-octane series against India, scoring 64 and 109 to save the hosts’ blushes in the opening encounter.
The England captain admitted the big scores have left him looking forward to the second Test at Lord's.
“So I feel like to I have managed to have those breaks and be ready for the Test series that we’ve got and all that we’ve coming up. So in terms of me, I feel fine, I feel ready, I feel in a good place, obviously feel great on the back of those scores from last week. So, very much looking forward to getting back out there again on Thursday,” Root added in the pre-match media interaction.
While India looked the better team in Nottingham, England have recalled all-rounder Moeen Ali and are likely to plug a few more holes to make for a good match at the Home of Cricket.
Full schedule and squad for India tour of England 2021 (Timings in IST)
3-day warm-up match vs County Select XI: July 20-22 - Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street - 3:30 PM
1st Test: August 4-8 – Trent Bridge, Nottingham – 3:30 PM
2nd Test: August 12-16 – Lord’s, London – 3:30 PM
3rd Test: August 25-29 – Headingley, Leeds – 3:30 PM
4th Test: September 2-6 – Kennington Oval, London – 3:30 PM
5th Test: September 10-14 – Old Trafford, Manchester – 3:30 PM
India squad: Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (captain), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, KL Rahul, Wriddhiman Saha, Abhimanyu Easwaran
Standby players: Prasidh Krishna, Arzan Nagwaswalla, Suryakumar Yadav, Prithvi Shaw