Joe Root, where are you?

Joe Root has been present in this series if you have been keeping an eye out for him. And occasionally at locations where he might not have even been allowed to be.  Just moments after the third evening’s brutal treatment of India by Ollie Pope and his potpourri of sweeps,

Root was the one who showed up to address the media. Though he would quip that he didn’t want to. He didn’t mind being “big dogged” by the man of the day. In the end, he followed the Ollie Pope request and arrived at the news conference.

That was when Root famously urged his team to “dream the dream” and acknowledged that he no longer felt like the “benchmark” of scoring runs in the subcontinent. In less than twenty-four hours,

With the aid of a rookie spinner who was hired on this trip purely for his height and was taken from the first-class circuit, England had taken an astonishing 1-0 lead over India.

Remove his lines, and Root has been there under your nose the entire season. Of course, Rohit Sharma lost a catch on his first morning in Rajkot, but he has performed above expectations when he has got the ball in his hands. Before Tom Hartley’s stunning seven-wicket haul took over in the first Test in Hyderabad, he was unquestionably England’s finest spinner.

Root’s absence on the first evening was so noticeable that the narrative of the first day of the series revolved around his refusal to accept a bowl from Yashasvi Jaiswal. Who was in a rampant mood, rather than England’s 246 all out following the toss.

The next morning, when he removed Jaiswal with his fourth delivery, the uproar seemed justified. He even scored three goals in a row later in the day.

His right little finger injury prevented him from spinning the ball as much as he would have wanted in Visakhapatnam. But on the flattest surface of the series in Rajkot, he performed well as a part-time spinner.

 

Without a doubt, he has filled up some of Jack Leach’s loss by providing expertise and familiarity in the center. The wicket column is no longer ringing like bells since the pitches have been much better for batting. However, his round-the-wicket angle and deft pace variations are reminiscent of the bowler who picked 5 for 8 on his previous tour here.

However, he has mostly been able to fulfill his job as the team’s third spinner, bowling his 107 overs at an economy of just 3.5.