Jos Buttler: Joe Root is one of the best exponents of the sweep shot
Jos Buttler has reckoned that Joe Root picks the length pretty early and he can play sweep shots as good as anyone in the world.
In the recently-concluded series against Sri Lanka, Joe Root employed his sweep on his way to two classic big scores and was notch above everyone who played in that series. His scores of 228 and 186 were compared to that of Kevin Pietersen’s dominant Indian sojourn in 2012.
As England prepare to take on India in India – a challenge that is as daunting as anything in this world – speak for a larger narrative and the importance of their skipper to their team. Jos Buttler was stoked for Root, calling him one of the best exponents of sweep shots in modern-day batting.
“Joe’s always has a brilliant game against spin,” Buttler said on a conference from Chennai, reported ESPN Cricinfo. “He’s one of the best exponents of the sweep shot and he picks length brilliantly, which is a big strength playing against spin. It’s very hard keeping dot balls against him because he manages to rotate the strike so well.”
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“He did that really well in Sri Lanka and one of the biggest things was his hunger to bat for a long period of time. I think he showed great application to bat both mentally, tactically, and physically. To bat for so long and back it up across two Tests. He’s in great form and that’s a good place for him to be in. And for the team to learn from him.”
Buttler reiterates huge first innings score in India
With every single England press conference surrounding the fact that they need to put up a huge first-innings total, Buttler further reiterated the point. He made the Chennai Test of 2016 as a case in point when despite England putting up almost 500 runs on the board, they lost by a margin of an innings.
“There are times when the ball seams and swings in England and a big first-innings score can be 300. But in India, if it’s a fantastic batting wicket then a good score in the first innings is 600-650. Root was a good example of us doing that in Sri Lanka with a double hundred and a 180. He showed us that you have to make the most of your first innings,” Buttler said.
“When we played India here four-five years ago, we scored 470, but India scored over 700 with Karun Nair scoring a triple-hundred. So it’s a great education about what comprises ‘big first-innings runs’ in India and having the mindset and application in doing that.”