India vs England : Pitch wasn’t the reason we lost, we were outplayed, reckons Joe Root
After the Chennai wicket for the second Test came under criticism from various quarters, Joe Root has stated that it made for some exciting cricket and credited India for playing better cricket throughout.
As the Chennai leg came to an end, India and England have shared spoils in the series, so far, with both teams battling it out for the remaining one spot in the World Test Championship final. After going 1-0 down in the series, a turner was expected and as it came, India grabbed the opportunity with both hands.
A massive 317-run win reinforced the brilliance of the Indian side but Joe Root refrained from making any controversial opinion. While calling the pitch “wasn’t good”, the English skipper added that the wicket made for some exciting cricket.
“It’s very alien to what a lot of English guys will have experienced before, as are green seamers that you might come across in the UK. Do I think it was a good pitch? I wouldn’t say it was a good pitch, but it made for very exciting cricket,” said Root.
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“But pitch wasn’t the reason we lost, we were outplayed. I do think that the toss was an important one to win but it wouldn’t have guaranteed us to win the game either. India showed that you can score runs on it and found a way of managing a very tricky surface so we’ve got to learn from that,” he added.
Lot to learn from India, feels Joe Root
India have been the toughest place for the touring sides over the years and the side hardly lose at home. Even though England have won the first Test comfortably, there were lessons to be learnt and Root admitted that their players need to take it from here and put up a dominant performance in the third and fourth Test of the series.
“How they (India) didn’t get away from their game plan, how they knew exactly the way they were going to score their runs. How they managed to bat at the other end for long periods of time.”
“And as a batting group, how does that look for us individually? How I am going to manage these big turning deliveries and how am I going to stay really calm and clear under pressure? We’ve got to take bits from it and add it to our own games, and come back better for it as well,” he added.
“Day-night cricket offers something different again, so we are very much looking forward to that. We’ll have a little bit of a break now to refresh and have a look at a few things, but it’s exciting times.”