Rajkot: The right footwork, shot selection and judicious use of sweep shots were the key factors in him getting a hundred against India here Wednesday said England batsman Joe Root.
“I just tried to be positive with my footwork. My plan was to get either forward or back and use the width of the crease,” Root told reporters after the end of the game. “I used the sweep shot as much as I could… sometimes, I even swept from the off-stump. The idea was not to let the Indian bowlers settle into a length,” he added.
Root informed that the right-left combination of himself and Moeen Ali did not allow the Indian bowlers to build up the pressure.
“Moeen helped our cause. He batted freely and we rotated the strike as much as we could. This did not allow the Indian bowlers to find rhythm. I hope the others continue to do the same. We should not let them (Indians) build pressure on us in the first innings,” pointed out the England vice-captain.
“It might be different in the second innings when the ball starts to spin more and variable bounce coming in as well. But if we have big first innings total, then it can be a great advantage for us,” he added.
Meanwhile India’s batting coach Sanjay Bangar stated that the fielding lapses early on had spoilt India’s chances of creating pressure early on.
“We could have had (Alastair) Cook and (Haseeb) Hameed early on. But we dropped them both. Coming in at zero for one is a huge difference than coming in at 47 for one. We let England off the hook,” informed Bangar.
The coach, however, is confident that India will be able to hit back quickly when the match resumes, Thursday.
Press Trust of India