by We knew when he came to India that Joe Root was the most important batsman in England. One innings in the field indicates that there are many perhaps the most important bowler, too.
On the third morning Jack Leach, the senior spinner who has just returned from a serious back injury, took the field with an almost comical strapping on his left knee, after a few uncomfortable bashes in the field. Leach bowled only one underpowered over, from which India scored nine of the 15 runs they managed in the mini-session.
This team can’t discuss your body, as Leach showed on their first morning under Brendon McCullum in 2022, teetering into the boundary at Lord’s and suffering concussion. Ollie Pope aggravated a shoulder injury when he should not have taken the same ground in last year’s Ashes.
In truth, Leach looked like a man who should have been rehabbing to ensure he was ready for the second Test, which starts on Friday, rather than slumping heavily in the field again, which he did.
Through the pain, Leach was tidy on the second day, but he was unable to bowl the amount of runs, or length of spells, that England require of him. He bowled 16 overs over six overs, the longest of which lasted just four overs. Before the tour, Leach’s workload would have been double that of Ben Stokes.
In his absence, Root came up. After being ignored on the first day – a mistake Stokes will surely not repeat, given Yashavi Jaiswal’s treatment of Tom Hartley – Root were rattled for 23 on the second day. Both sides of the tea, he shuffled through 16 overs. By the time he was done, picking up two more wickets on the third day, he had bowled 29 overs, more than any other bowler and his Test innings, and had figures of four for 79. Only her a little absurd five for eight in Ahmedabad three years ago that analysis is the best in his 137-Test career.
Root was England’s most threatening bowler for some time. He turned the ball with more fizz and got more consistent spin and bounce than his peers. He was the first to take a wicket by batting, when No. 7 KS Bharat was pinned lbw, after the first five wickets all fell miscued attacking strokes. He trapped Ravindra Jadeja lbw and bowled Jasprit Bumrah in consecutive balls on the third morning; will he ever get a better chance at a Test hat-trick?
Perhaps that’s no surprise, considering this is his 11th Test in four trips to India, and 24th in Asia. England assistant coach, former New Zealand and Warwickshire spinner Jeetan Patel believes that as well as experience, the secret to Root’s secondary skill lies in his primary skill.
“The beauty of having Joe Root is that he knows how to bat,” Patel said. “He knows what pitches are doing, how to create opportunities. We have always talked about how we will take wickets.
“Joe has the ability to think how I’m going to take a wicket, how I’m going to change a game. It might not be him, it might be his mate. We saw that here, typical Joe Root, create opportunities. Yes, he got hit for boundaries but that’s Joe Root, he bowls attacking deliveries and asks attacking questions. It was amazing I thought.
“Joe hit and missed the seam on purpose. On pitches like this I believe it’s about how many times you can hit the seam, but also can you miss the seam as well, because it’s so dangerous.”
Root has two knocks reminding England of his quality with the ball. Firstly, it means that the top three have to give him plenty of rest, as there are not many bowlers in the No. 1 batting line-up. 4. The second is that they can rebalance the attack, because he is too good to be a fourth-rounder, especially given those in front of him. Right now, Rehan Ahmed feels like a luxury item who is unlikely to contribute much with bat or ball. Two left-arm spinners feel too much.
Either Anderson or Robinson must start every Test now
It seems like a misstep that no bowler really wants the new ball. Mark Wood has a role in these conditions, but if he specializes it is with the older ball. At least one of James Anderson and Ollie Robinson – both of whom have previously enjoyed sub-division success – must play every Test from now on.
Hartley and Ahmed will be better from experience here, and Shoaib Bashir should arrive in India on Sunday to provide another option, although the Vizag Test may come too soon for him, given his strange week. Things are hardly better in Ahmedabad for the Lions, where Callum Parkinson managed to get a win after Jack Carson was left out. Would Liam Dawson answer a call after being negligent, and say England have picked the spinners they believe will succeed? The jury is out.
So far, with Leach feeling his way back and picking up hits along the way, Root has his work cut out for him, with ball as well as bat. As England’s key player in Hyderabad, he had a quiet Test with the bat, but not the ball.
