Joe Root has long accepted the expectation that comes with being England’s top batsman and, after his opening day hundred against India, hoped a message has been sent to his team-mates that they too can thrive in this Test series.
Speaking after England reached 311 for four at stumps, Root revealed a personal satisfaction at bringing up his first three-figure score on the subcontinent but also the belief he and Moeen Ali, who was unbeaten on 99, will have given the squad in their stand of 179.
“It’s a nice start to this series and it’s something to build on now,” said Root, whose 124 was his 11th Test century. “The way me and Mo played – without blowing my own trumpet – was something that, going forward, will give us confidence and the rest of the guys as well.
“Pressure is always there as senior batters. You are expected to score runs and you have to get on with it and learn to deal with it. To bat for that long at the start of this trip really pleasing.
“I just tried to be quite positive with my footwork, get right forward and right back, use my feet at times and – when it was available – use the sweep shot, try to make it hard for them to settle on one line and length.
“With a partner at the other end also playing quite freely, with the board ticking over all the time and a right and left-hander, it was very difficult for India to build any pressure.”
Root was also sanguine about his dismissal in the evening session after the on-field officials and the third umpire, Rod Tucker, were satisfied Umesh Yadav had control of a caught and bowled despite fumbling the ball when trying to throw it up in celebration.
He said: “I was so disgusted with the shot that – giving it the Arsène Wenger approach – I didn’t really see what was happening. Having seen the slo-mo replay since, it does look out. Full speed it looks a bit strange but I was very lucky to get an umpire’s call with an lbw earlier and you have to take the rough with the smooth and just get on with it.”
On the match situation, Root claimed a total in excess of 500 is well within England’s reach on a pitch he thinks will rapidly deteriorate; that the India seamers, Umesh Yadav and the cramp-afflicted Mohammed Shami, were getting the ball reverse swing was also a boon.
Root said: “Our seamers will take a lot of pleasure in seeing it reverse-swing after 35 overs, and those three guys will be looking forward to having a big score on the board to defend and give them opportunities to be aggressive.
“If we can get beyond 500 that will be a fantastic effort. It will be more about how long we can bat on this wicket. By the end of day two, three and into day four, the game will speed up drastically in my opinion.
“I might be completely wrong but having spent some time out there and seen the cracks on the wicket – and already the variable bounce it’s shown – it might go into fast-forward come day three onwards. So it will be really important to make big scores tomorrow and take advantage of this really good start.”
