“We have no scars from the last Tests” – Joe Root says England batsmen are confident
Joe Root was in a buoyant mood during a virtual press conference on the eve of the series decider against India. He expressed confidence in the ability of his batting group in the conference and said that the humiliation of the last two Tests was behind them.
England’s batting has come under scrutiny in the last two Tests. Things have gone downhill for them after starting the tour with a thumping win. England have crossed 150 just once as a group in the last two games, with Zak Crawley the only batsman to register a half-century.
The 30-year-old gave an update on their team combination as well, while also providing an insight into England’s mental state ahead of the game.
“We’ll discuss the team at the toss when it’s finalized. I think the most important thing is that as a batting group we are very clear with how we want to play and we go into the game full of confidence. We have no scars from the last two Tests.”
England have struggled to counter the threat of Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel in this series. The batsmen seemed bogged down by the prospect of turning tracks, with English players struggling to use their feet against Indian spinners.
The scoreboard pressure has also led to reduced usage of the sweep shot, which served them so well in the first Test. Dismissals have ranged from batsmen getting caught in their crease, to some playing for the turn that never came. With England under pressure to put runs on the board, Joe Root wants his players to find the sweet spot between attack and defence.
Root added:
“We should play in a controlled but fearless way. We shouldn’t be scared about the surface in any sort of way or about the guys bowling on it. It’s just really important we stay very calm and clear about how we score our runs. Trust our defence, and when we want to score runs trust those shots as well.”
Joe Root happy with Dominic Bess’ growth
A talking point ahead of the final Test has been whether Dominic Bess will return to the side. The off-spinner started the series with a four-wicket haul in the first innings. But a disappointing show in the second innings, that saw him bowl too many full tosses, led to him being dropped in favour of Moeen Ali.
England then made the fatal call to go with three seamers in the pink-ball Test, as Dominic Bess missed out on a track that saw spinners take 28 out of the 30 wickets that fell. Although Joe Root didn’t give anything away when it came to team selection, the England skipper assured everyone that Dominic Bess is in the running.
Root said:
“He is certainly up for selection. He’s been training really well. He has used the time out to actually work on a few things. He’s practised very hard. He’s got a very good character. If he gets a chance to play he’ll surely be desperate to try and exploit the surface a bit if it’s anything like the last two games.”