"Joe Root, what do you eat?" - Aakash Chopra in awe of England captain's consistency
Aakash Chopra has light-heartedly asked what Joe Root consumes for him to come up with consistent performances in Test match cricket.
Root played an enterprising 121-run knock in England's first innings of the third Test against India. The England skipper has been head and shoulders above every other batsman in the series and has already crossed the 500-run mark.
While reviewing the second day's play in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra spoke highly of Joe Root's fantabulous performances in the series. He said:
"Joe Root, what do you eat? We bow before you. The roots are not taking the name of coming out. You are playing the third Test match and have scored three centuries and in the middle you had made a huge score of 180. Sir, please excuse us."
The cricketer-turned-commentator highlighted that Joe Root has been in a rich vein of form not only in the ongoing series but throughout the year so far. Chopra elaborated:
"The year 2021 has been totally in his name. He has said that the law of averages is not important for him, who scores runs like this. He has a 86% percent conversion from fifty to hundred in this year. This is incredible, he is from a different planet altogether."
Joe Root has amassed 1398 runs at an excellent average of 69.90 in eleven Tests he has played in 2021. These runs include six centuries, with a top score of 228 against Sri Lanka.
"Joe Root has kept his ego aside" - Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra pointed out that Joe Root has not tried to do anything extravagant and has always stuck to his gameplan. He explained:
"The law of averages catches up because you become a little complacent, go away from your processes a little bit. At times you get overconfident. We saw with KL Rahul in the first innings that he opened his eyes on a pitched-up delivery and played a big shot. There is nothing like that with Joe Root, he is still playing each delivery on its merit, he has kept his ego aside."
The 43-year-old signed off by stating Joe Root deserves to be considered the best among the Fab Four currently. Chopra observed:
"He was absolutely sensational. It didn't seem like any bowler troubled him. This was class of a different level. When 2021 started, there were discussions if Joe Root is there in the Fab four. In August of 2021 we are saying that if we write the four names of the Fab four, you will have to write Joe Root's name at No.1. All the other names are behind him at this time."
Root recently jumped to second spot in the ICC Test batting rankings. He trails Kane Williamson by just eight rating points and could move ahead of the Kiwi skipper soon if he continues in the same vein.