India vs England: Got my rhythm back playing ODI series against Sri Lanka, says Root

Root,
who
failed
to
reach
a
half-century
in
his
last
five
Tests,
scored
64
in
the
first
innings
and
then
came
up
with
a
masterful
109
to
help
England
put
up
a
much-improved
batting
show
in
their
second
innings.

His
21st
Test
century
helped
England
score
303
in
85.5
overs
and
secure
a
lead
of
208
runs
after
being
skittled
out
for
183
in
the
first
innings.

“It
felt
pretty
good
to
get
a
big
score
and
get
us
into
position
to
give
us
a
chance
of
winning
this
Test,”
Root
said
in
a
virtual
press-conference
after
the
penultimate
day’s
proceedings
here.

“I’ve
actually
felt
a
real
benefit
from
playing
some
white-ball
cricket
(in
Sri
Lanka),”
he
said
referring
to
the
series
against
Sri
Lanka
in
June-July
where
he
returned
with
unbeaten
knocks
of
68
and
79.

“It
would
be
nice
to
have
some
red-ball
cricket
coming
into
this
game
but,
from
my
point
of
view,
playing
50-over
cricket
gave
me
some
rhythm
back
in
my
batting.”

Root
said
he
is
reaping
dividends
from
a
few
technical
changes
that
he
brought
in
to
play
ODI
cricket.

“More
than
anything,
up
from
New
Zealand
(Lord’s
Test)
I’ve
changed
a
few
things.
I
felt
I
got
forward
and
back
better,”
he
said.

“I
was
standing
a
lot
taller
a
lot
earlier,
picking
my
bat
up
a
lot
earlier,
I
feel
like
I’ve
got
rhythm
back
in
my
hands.
I
find
50-over
cricket
can
be
a
massive
help
to
my
red-ball
game.”

Before
the
recent
lean
patch,
Root
had
scored
two
double
centuries
in
three
matches,
including
the
218
in
the
Chennai
Test
as
he
became
the
first
to
surpass
the
1,000-mark
this
calendar
year.
He
now
has
1,064
Test
runs
in
2021.

“I
was
probably
a
little
bit
too
excited,”
Root
said
about
his
pumped-up
celebration
after
scoring
the
century
here.

“The
five,
10
minutes
leading
into
getting
the
hundred
was
a
bit
hairy
as
well,
so
there
was
probably
a
bit
of
relief,”
he
said
referring
to
surviving
a
couple
of
LBW
calls
while
in
the
90s.

“As
always
you’d
want
more
runs
to
play
with,
there’s
no
doubt
about
that,
but
you’ve
seen
throughout
this
whole
game
there’s
been
times
when
clusters
of
wickets
have
fallen
and
the
game’s
really
flipped
on
its
head.”

In
the
middle,
there
were
some
exchanges
between
India
pacer
Mohammed
Siraj
and
England
batters,
especially
that
of
Sam
Curran
and
Jonny
Bairstow.

Dismissing
them
as
“nice
banter”,
Root
said:
“I
had
quite
a
nice
conversation
with
him.
He
told
me
how
well
he
was
bowling
and
I
agreed.”

Root
said
it’s
been
quite
a
rough
patch
with
the
team
missing
injured
pace
sensation
Jofra
Archer
and
talismanic
allrounder
Ben
Stokes,
who
has
taken
an
indefinite
break
from
cricket
to
focus
on
mental
wellbeing.

“We’re
going
through
quite
a
rough
patch
at
the
moment.
But
there’s
some
strong
characters
in
that
dressing
room
and
they’re
going
to
have
to
be
strong
characters,
because
we
have
to
start
getting
better,
turning
starts
into
good
scores.

“In
terms
of
my
own
form,
it
feels
very
good.
I
just
want
to
keep
it
going,”
he
concluded.