England skipper Joe Root is coming off successful series against Sri Laka recently. He scored 426 runs in the two-Test match series including scores of 228 and 186. Now with a tough Test series against India, the England skipper is looking forward to a mini-battle against India’s ace spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. The first Test in Chennai will be Root’s 100th of his career taking him to an elite club.
Meanwhile, addressing the pre-match press conference ahead of the first Test, Joe Root said that he is looking to score some big runs against India and is looking forward to facing Ashwin.
“I won’t look to dominate or defend but just try and play the ball that is delivered. If I stay around for a period of time, I will score some big runs. He has got a great record in India and is probably full of confidence for that series” said Root.
Root further said that he is looking forward to a mini-battle against the Indian ace spinner who is 23 wickets short of 400 Test wickets. He will be the second quickest to get to the landmark after the Sri Lankan spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan.
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Joe Root on Mini-Battle With R Ashwin
“I have played against him before and scored some runs and he has got the better of me a couple of times and it will be a little battle between the Test match. The contest that you want to get the better off,” he said.
The England skipper further shared the story of honing the sweep shot which his contemporaries like Virat Kohli or Steve Smith hardly play.
“For me as a young lad, I was always very small. So it took a long time for me to grow and develop physically. I had to find a way to get the ball off the square against any spinners in particular as there was no pace to work with,” Root answered to a query from PTI during virtual media conference.
Meanwhile, both England and India are in the race for the World Test Championship finals. India need to beat England by a margin of either 4-0, 3-0,3-1 or 2-0. While England need to beat India by a margin of 1-3, 0-3, 0-4.
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