England bank on Joe Root’s ‘measured approach’ to unravel India’s spin web | Cricket News

There’s something classy and stylish about the way Joe Root goes about his job. The sense of assurance he brings to the table is evident in the way he batted in the Nagpur nets on Wednesday. He looked at ease against the local spin bowlers. Instead of trying to hit every ball out of the park, he looked to use his feet and play it down the ground. He also showed his range of shots, including the conventional sweep and the ‘reverse’ version.The “cheeky smile,” as mentioned his captain Jos Buttler, never leaves his face, and he is probably the batsman the England team management will be banking on to combat their spin threat from India.
“He’ll be at number three,” Buttler revealed Root’s batting position on the eve of the match. “He’s one of the great players of the game and obviously a vital part of ODI cricket for England for a long time.
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“I’m excited to see him in this phase of his career, when he’s not had the captaincy. He is back with that cheeky smile on his face and really enjoying his cricket. I expect him to do exactly the same in this environment. He’s obviously got loads of experience in ODI cricket, which would be great for some of the guys who haven’t played as much in our group.”
Brendon McCullum, who was head coach of the England Test team, has been charged with turning around the white-ball team’s fortunes as well. But his first series did not go well, as they were bamboozled spin during a 4-1 series defeat in India. England lost 29 wickets to spin over the five games.
All the England batsmen seemed to have the same mindset: attack the first ball of the over. Citing Harry Brook as an example, former England captain Michael Vaughan said the current generation of England cricketers disrespects spin while trying to whack every ball out of the park.
“I’d love him (Brook) to watch Joe Root, who is a master of going back, hitting into the legside, nabbing a two, getting off strike,” Vaughan wrote in a column for The Telegraph.Story continues below this ad
“Sweeps and reverse sweeps to manoeuvre the field and create gaps. Do not just think boundary, boundary, boundary all the time. If Brook marries his own game with a bit of Root, he will be much better for it.”
After the group-stage exit at the 2015 ODI World Cup, Eoin Morgan changed the template England were playing with over the years. They became the first team to smash 350 in ODIs on a regular basis. And Root’s pragmatic approach, manoeuvring the ball into the gaps, allowed everyone else to be firecrackers.
In the current England set-up, all the batsmen love to whack the ball out of the park. But to do well in this ODI series and the Champions Trophy, they need a fulcrum. Root will have to remind England’s swashbucklers that the ODI game lasts more than double the time a T20 does.
Buttler on England’s aggressive style
Buttler admitted their inability to execute their plans has hurt England in ODIs recently.Story continues below this ad
“I’ll just say this in terms of execution. Whether you want to be aggressive, you want to be conservative, you want to be measured, you’ve still got to go out there and execute it and play it well,” he said.
“If I look back at that World Cup, the two teams in the final were playing a really positive and aggressive brand of cricket. You may think of the way Travis Head took that final with the bat. It can be successful. This can be a great part of the world to play that fashion of cricket.”
However, Buttler maintained that his team will stick to its ultra-aggressive style, despite current results not going their way.
“We want to play in exactly the same way. We want to find ways to put pressure on the opposition with the bat. We played well in phases in the T20s, never quite long enough to run away with games and end up getting the results. It’s really important that we stay on track and stay on course with the way we want to play and try to execute that to the best of our ability in these games,” he said.