Let’s go back 12 years in time. Desperate for a series-levelling win, India had England down to 139 for five in the first innings. The pitch in Nagpur was inexplicably flat, but MS Dhoni’s team needed just one more wicket in order to restrict the visitors to a low total. If England secured a draw, they would win a Test series in India after 27 years.
A debutant defied the Indian spinners — four of them — shared a century-plus sixth-wicket stand with wicketkeeper Matt Prior, and was eventually the eighth man out, but not before guiding the team to a total of over 300. Joe Root made what appeared to be a painstaking 73 off 229 balls. But it was clear immediately that this 22-year-old was no ordinary player.
Flag-bearer of one of England’s greatest batting traditions, which has its roots in Yorkshire, he has lived up to those expectations. Root was soon identified as one of four great batters of his time alongside Kane Williamson, Steve Smith and Virat Kohli. A few months before turning 34, he maintains an average of 50-plus. Youngest of the four, he has the most centuries — 33 — of the lot.
The thing about Root is not just the numbers. He has those to his name, better than many. Few batters achieve those figures. He is undoubtedly one of England’s all-time greats and that is no mean feat. What defines, Root, however, is the circumstances he made those runs in. A conventional batter in the true sense to begin with, he has adjusted wonderfully with the changing times.
For a player who grew up in conditions where the ball swings in the air, Root became one of the best batters against spin. His double-century in Chennai in 2021 was perhaps the finest innings played on Indian soil by a foreigner in a long time. The sweep shot certainly didn’t come naturally to him and yet, he mastered it. Part of the credit for this, as Root himself admitted, goes to the late Graham Thorpe, who taught him how to go about it, other than fast-tracking his inclusion in the Test side.
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In 15 Tests in India, Root averages 45-plus. His performances did not always result in wins. England lost all three series in India after the one Root made his debut in. His performance can’t possibly be undermined still. He stood his ground, made his runs. The bizarre dismissal while attempting to reverse-scoop Jasprit Bumrah earlier this year was an aberration.
And although that attempt was a much-talked-about failure, in a sense it showed Root’s true greatness. Having grown up as a batter in conventional ways, he had to drastically remodel his game once ‘Bazball’ became England’s template under Brendon McCullum. For a player to have developed his game along completely different lines, this was no easy adjustment. Root did that and enjoyed substantial success following those methods.
This transformation actually came well before McCullum became England’s Test coach. Under Eoin Morgan as captain of the white-ball sides, England shifted to an all-attack mode with the bat after the 2015 World Cup. An apparent misfit in that module, Root adjusted and became a pillar of the batting line-up. For him, this paradigm shift happened before Bazball.
This skill to bat outside his comfort zone separates Root from Kohli, Smith and Williamson. The other three did not have to alter their game so abruptly, after having got used to their own methods of play. Root had to unlearn and re-learn. He had to redefine and rediscover himself. That’s a hell of a lot to do and he did it perfectly.
Still to turn 34 and with 33 centuries under his belt already, nobody knows where Root will stop. Can he better Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 51 hundreds? In theory, this is possible, although there’s still a long way to go. What’s a given is that Root has shown this unique ability to please both the traditional and ultra-modern fans. Deep-rooted Joe will be revered for that, no matter where he stops.
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