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'Virat's team will play how they play': Root says we've learned our lessons
With the visitors leading the five-match series 1-0, one expects more aggression from Virat Kohli's team but England captain Joe Root said his team has learned its lessons from the previous game and will not be drawn into the conversations needlessly.
“There's the theatre and everything else surrounding the game. We've got to make sure that we play the game how we want to play and we look after that as best as we can, and not get too distracted or drawn into anything that's not honest,” said Root in the virtual pre-match media interaction.
The second Test at Lord’s was played in an intense atmosphere with players of both teams, not shying from having a go at each other on regular basis.
Kohli’s and company channeled their aggression to their advantage to script a famous win at the home of cricket while England failed to rile up the opposition players despite regular attempts and that is something Root is looking to avoid in the third Test at Leeds starting August 25.
“We've got to be genuine to ourselves, genuine to how we are as individuals and how we are collectively and be as good as we can, the way that we go. Virat's team will play how they play, I just want us to go out and be the best version of ourselves.”
Root has already admitted to tactical blunders that cost his side the Lord's Test. Their emotions also got the better of them.
“I think there were always conversations you always try to find one-percenters in ways you can deal with different situations. We've done some good learning off the back of the last game I think we could have managed certain areas differently, me as the captain, we could have gone about things slightly differently. We have got three massive games to play in this series, there's a lot to play for. And you know we're desperate to bounce back strongly,” he said.
England have made a few changes going into the game with Dawid Malan coming in to bat at number three and Haseeb Hameed moving up to open alongside Rory Burns.
Opener Dom Sibley has been dropped and Mark Wood has been ruled out of the game due to a shoulder injury. Root expects Malan to make an instant impact even though the southpaw has not played a lot of red-ball cricket of late.
The skipper, who has been scoring the bulk of the runs for his team, is confident that the under-fire batting line-up will come good.
“The most important thing about batting in Test cricket revolves around big partnerships, when two guys back for a period of time the game can look completely different. And that's got to be our focus as a batting group. Starting your innings in England can be the hardest thing to do.”
Root attributed his brilliant run of form to the technical changes he made recently.
“Sometimes it's that old adage if you have to take a little bit of backward step to come forward and feel like reaping the rewards of that and I think I've obviously, over a period of time, found myself getting out between 50 and 100. I feel I've managed those phases a little bit better now. Just through a better understanding of what I want to play, what I want to leave. And I suppose, just even more experience within the game.”
He duly credits the Indian pace attack for exploiting English conditions to perfection.
“They've got a wonderful attack and I say, look around Test cricket, there are some fantastic attacks out there. A lot of them do suit English conditions or have had the exploits to manage these conditions very well. India certainly has done that so far in this series, and we've got to keep being smart about finding ways to counter that, finding ways to score put the pressure back on them.”
“I think one thing they have is they have a good balance, they have a variety of different release points,” Root added.
WITH PTI INPUTS
