Joe Root feels India to be under pressure of expectations
English skipper Joe Root, who is on his third tour of India, has stated that the pressure is invariably on the Indian team, with everyone expecting them to win the bout against England.
The Indian dominance at home is one of the great cricket stories of the decade gone by, with the team losing only a solitary Test in the last nine years. Incidentally, the last series loss came against England in 2012, when a greenhorn Joe Root just made it to the senior side and then made his Test debut against India.
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Now that he is the skipper and is all set to play his 100th Test match, everyone is waiting for the Yorkshireman to make a statement in Chennai but it seems like he is going with an open mind.
Deflecting the pressure on India, Root stated that India are under pressure of expectations with the side having an enviable record at home and just coming off a historic series win in Australia.
“It’s going to be an amazing series to be part of. To get the opportunity to play India off the back of them beating Australia in Australia – what a scalp that would be for us. There will be more pressure on them than us – they have an expectation to uphold that record they have in their conditions,” Root said in the pre-match press conference from Chennai.
“We’re quietly confident. We’re playing some good cricket, we’re improving all the time, implementing the game plan we constantly talk about more consistently. I think it’s going to make for a fascinating watch. I’m really excited about it.
“It will be great for Virat to be back out there as well and for cricket fans in general – we want to play against the best and you want to beat the best. It’s an opportunity for us to do that. It’s going to be great fun and I’m really looking forward to it.”
Root not scared by Indian challenge
Over the years, the prospect of visiting India has been one of the most terrifying challenges ever and teams are understandably under the pump each time an Indian tour comes calling. Last time, the series resulted in Alastair Cook’s confidence being dented big-time and he had to resign from his captaincy responsibilities. However, Root made it clear that he is not scared by the daunting challenge posed in front of the side.
“It’s a big one, we’re all aware of that because it’s a very difficult place to come and win, but that doesn’t scare us and it shouldn’t. We should embrace that challenge and take a lot of confidence from the improvement we’ve made, keep striving to get better, and do something special this time around,” Root said.