Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], March 3 (ANI): England skipper Joe Root feels if the pitch starts offering spin early on in the game it might become a huge factor in the fourth and final Test against India which gets underway on Thursday at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
England hit a mammoth 578 in the first innings of the opening Test against India, but since then the visitors have struggled to cross the 200-run mark.
Root wants his batsmen to carry the confidence they gained from the Sri Lanka series where the English skipper played marathon innings. The right-handed batsman also knows if England puts a big first-innings total then the spinning wicket will play a huge role in the game.
“I think we don’t look at what an ideal score would be. We just want to maximise the opportunity if we get to bat first. We will try to bat as big and long as possible. And looking at how we performed in Sri Lanka, we can certainly do that and also how we played against India in the first Test, so we know we can do it. We have to take that confidence forward,” said Root while replying to a query from ANI.
“And if we do that we know the scoreboard pressure and especially when the ball starts to spin early on in the game. That will play a huge factor. And similarly if India bats first we have to try and get past them because we know how important it will be later on in the game,” he added.
India defeated England by ten wickets within two days in the third Test at the Narendra Modi Stadium. The match saw both India and England batsmen failing to shine and getting out to balls that did not turn and skidded through from the spinners.
Root feels the pitch for the fourth Test will on the same lines and the English skipper wants his batsmen to have big partnerships.
“Pitch looks similar, we will see if it changes overnight. I think the most important thing is to learn all the lessons from the last two games and make sure we bat well,” said Root.
“As batters, if you don’t score runs you will always look up to yourself to improve and we have certainly done that. We need to find ways to build big partnerships if it is a similar surface this time around,” he signed off. (ANI)