Joe Root feels pain of rotation headache but unknowns of day-nighter give England chance to bounce back

When England play on a pitch puffing as much dust as we saw in the Second Test in Chennai, that dust takes a little longer to settle.

Yesterday’s debrief was painful, mainly because – with his superiors invisible – Joe Root was made to answer questions on England’s admirable policy of rest and rotation. Root has spent 2021 looking at his smiley, serene, unburdened best but was left strained and shattered by the whole affair, and promptly apologised to Moeen Ali, who simply wants to quietly nip home to spend time with his family, as scheduled.

It is to Root’s great credit that under his captaincy, his team’s wheels have never fully come off the wagon. Even when losing an Ashes series 4-0, England were still a game or so away from completely dropping their bundle as they have on other taxing tours. Their results have lurched wildly from boom to bust, but Root’s England are a level bunch.

So just as Root was not getting carried away after their wonderful victory last week, he tried to remain calm yesterday. This is no time to panic. After two matches, England are in a position they certainly would have taken at the start of the series.

Rotation – England could make as many as four changes for the third game in a row – should diminish the scars of this defeat, and will likely improve their XI. Three players will be back from rest, and two from injury.

And there is the unknown nature of the next Test.

First, the location. The Motera Stadium has been rebuilt since England lost there in 2012, and now seats 110,00, more than any cricket ground in the world. Around half of those seats look likely to be filled from next Wednesday, which is the first anniversary of the new stadium’s most notable use so far, when Donald Trump held a rally there, hailing the iconic Indian cricketers Soochin Tendoolker and Virot Koh-lee.

Then, there’s the ball. England have not played a pink ball Test since 2017, when they played two; one on home soil against West Indies and one in Australia. One was with the Dukes ball, the other with the Kookaburra, and next week’s is with the SG. Eleven of their 17-man squad for the match have not played a pink-ball Test.

There is little history on offer to assess how this game might pan out. The only previous day-night Test in India saw Bangladesh routed by an innings in Kolkata in 2019. That was in November, not February, and India bowled just seven overs of spin across two innings. After England’s performance in Chennai, you sense that might change.

England will draw heart from the fact that India were skittled for just 36 by a pink ball two months ago in Adelaide. That thought will excite James Anderson and ensure Root is not down in the dumps for long.