When we came to India, we knew that Joe Root was England’s premier batsman. A throw in the field also revealed him as arguably the premier bowler.
On the third morning, senior spinner Jack Leach, who had just returned from a serious back injury, emerged onto the field with his left knee strapped almost comically after a few uncomfortable knocks on the field. Leach bowled against an underdog, scoring nine of the 15 runs India managed in the mini-session.
Putting your body at risk is not a non-negotiable for this team, as Leach showed when he suffered a concussion after crashing into boundaries at Lord’s on his first morning under Brendon McCullum in 2022. Ollie Pope aggravated his shoulder injury on the field during last year’s Ashes match when he should not have been in the same place.
In reality, Leach looked like a man who needed to be rehabilitated to ensure he was ready for the second Test, which starts on Friday, rather than trudging heavily on the field, which he did.
Despite the pain, Leach was tidy on the second day, but could not overcome the volume of overs or length of spells England demanded of him. He bowled 16 overs in six spells, the longest of which lasted just four overs. Before the tour, Ben Stokes was confident that Leach’s workload would be twice as high.
In his absence, Root stepped up. Having been overlooked on day one (a mistake that Stokes will surely not make again, given Yashavi Jaiswal’s treatment of Tom Hartley), Root mixed in 23 overs on day two. Over 16 either side of the tee. By the time he was done, he had bowled 29 overs, more than any other bowler and equal to the most in a Test innings, with figures of four for 79, picking up two more wickets on the third day. Three years ago in Ahmedabad, eight made this analysis even better in his 137-Test career.
Root was by far England’s most threatening bowler. He turned the ball around with more enthusiasm and found more consistent spin and bounce than his colleagues. When No. 7 KS Bharat was pinned lbw, he was the first to take a wicket by batting after all the first five wickets fell to mis-attacking innings. On the third morning, Ravindra Jadeja trapped lbw and bowled Jasprit Bumrah in successive balls; Will he have a better chance of scoring a hat-trick in Test?
Perhaps this is no surprise considering this is his 11th Test in four tours to India and 24th Test in Asia. England’s assistant coach, former New Zealand and Warwickshire spinner Jeetan Patel, believes that the secret to Root’s secondary skill actually lies in his primary skill as well as experience.
“The beauty of having Joe Root is he knows how to bat,” Patel said. “He knows what pitches do, how to create opportunities. We always talked about how to get wickets.
“Joe has the ability to think about how to take the wicket, how to change the game. It might not be for him, it might be his wife. Here we saw typical Joe Root create opportunities. Yes, he pushed the boundaries but this is Joe Root, delivering attacking deliveries and asking attacking questions. I thought it was amazing.
“Joe deliberately hit the seam and missed. “I believe on these types of pitches it’s about how many times you can hit the seam, but it’s also about whether you miss the seam because that’s just as dangerous.”
Root, who reminded England of his quality with the ball, has two strikes. Firstly, it means that the top three need to give him plenty of rest as most of the front-line bowlers cannot bat at No.4. Secondly, they can rebalance the attack because he is too good, especially to be the fourth spinner. his front. At the moment, Rehan Ahmed feels like a luxury item who is unlikely to contribute greatly with bat or ball. Two left-arm spinners feel like too much.
Anderson or Robinson must now start every Test
Not having a bowler who actually wants the new ball also seems like a misstep. Mark Wood has a role to play in these circumstances, but if he has any expertise it is with the old ball. At least one of James Anderson and Ollie Robinson, who have both previously enjoyed success on the subcontinent, needs to play every Test from here.
Hartley and Ahmed will be better in terms of experience here and Shoaib Bashir should come to India on Sunday to provide another option, but it’s possible the Vizag Test could come too soon for him given the strange week he’s had. Things are slightly better for the Lions in Ahmedabad; where Callum Parkinson was wicketless in an innings defeat in which Jack Carson was dropped. Would Liam Dawson return a call-up after being overlooked and rumored to be selecting spinners whose style England believe will be successful? The jury is out.
For now, Root has his work cut out with both ball and bat as Leach finds his way back and takes knocks along the way. In Hyderabad, he gave a quiet test as England’s leading all-rounder with the bat but not with the ball.