Joe Root once again showcased the attacking freedom which has become a big part of his game in England's second innings against Australia; it is a sign of how the 32-year-old believes his decision to skip Yorkshire's early County Championship matches to play in the T20 IPL helped him
Monday 19 June 2023 20:50, UK
There are two sides to Joe Root's game. The first is the elegant, technically proficient strokeplay. The second is the freewheeling, attacking side which has come to the fore in recent years.
The latter where the right-hander's ability to play every shot in the book - and some which are not - has made him even more of a potentially devastating threat in England's middle order.
Root has thrived under the attacking approach the team have adopted under his successor as captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum, underlined by him deciding to go for the reverse scoop first ball of day four of the first Ashes Test to Australia seamer Pat Cummins as the hosts resumed on 28-2.
That shot, which did not come off then but yielded a six and a four soon after, has become almost his trademark and Kevin Pietersen, another batter who was never afraid to take it to opposing bowlers during his England career, sees it as a sign of how much Root's decision to eschew the County Championship for the Indian Premier League earlier this year benefitted him.
"What was brilliant was Joe Root and how he just owned the game," Pietersen told Sky Sports. "He ran the game, he was pure quality, and he just owned that space, and all of this lot were scratching their heads going 'what do we do?'.
"That's probably the couple of months he's spent there in Jaipur. You play a lot of cricket in the shortest form of the game, but he would have been practising all that stuff.
"When you can get yourself into a rhythm like that - and I know because I did play some of those shots - you get real confidence in them, and you feel like you're never going to miss it."
There were plenty of questions asked when Root opted to skip Yorkshire's opening red-ball matches of the year in favour of playing for Rajasthan Royals in the T20 format IPL, particularly with an Ashes summer and five Tests against England's oldest rivals on the horizon.
Root only appeared in three games for the Royals too, making just 10 runs in the sole innings he actually batted for them, but it was the opportunity to hone his skills and learn from former and current internationals which proved attractive as well.
At the age of 32 and with over 11,000 Test runs to his name, putting him second on England's all-time run-scorers list, it might seem odd to think Root has anything left which he could possibly learn. Yet the Sheffield native is an adherent to the view that process never stops.
"You're playing a full schedule of international cricket all the time, you don't get blocks to train or a chance to improve," Root told Sky Sports.
"Obviously, I was preparing for T20 cricket while I was out there. A lot of the work I did around Test cricket was having conversations with current players and ex-players, just trying to find different ways of adding to my game.
"I have quite a bit of experience behind me now, I've had success in Test cricket, so I know what it requires to go and get it done, but if there were other things to add it felt like a really good environment to do that.
"Four-day cricket in England is the bedrock and should be the learning platform for us to play the game, but where I am at this stage in my career it felt like a better opportunity to expand where I could go and evolve as a player."
Ultimately, Root was unable to follow up his unbeaten first-innings century - his 30th in Test cricket - with another on day four after falling for 46, stumped for the first time in his Test career when he was caught out of his ground by Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey off spinner Nathan Lyon's bowling.
Nevertheless, it was a crucial innings in helping England recover from the sticky situation they found themselves in after rain curtailed play on day three and helped them on their way to setting Australia 281 to win the first Test of the five-match series.
What particularly impressed Pietersen though was the way Root's attacking intent from the very first ball of the day kept opposing captain Pat Cummins on his toes in the field with his array of strokes and ability to find gaps for scoring shots.
"He made the Australians do everything he wanted them to do," Pietersen said. "He wanted to spread the field and start working away, he took people out of cover and then started scoring through the off side.
"It was a masterclass on how to change everything into the momentum you want to work with."
Watch the thrilling conclusion to the first Test of this year's Ashes live on Sky Sports Cricket on Tuesday. Coverage of day five begins at 10.15am, with the first ball due at 11am. Also stream on NOW TV.
