Joe Root not taking his eye off the ball ahead of third Test

Joe Root is wary of being seduced into thinking the balance could tilt in England’s favour by the third Test against India being a day-night affair as he is convinced spin will be a factor at some point this week.
England won the opener in Chennai but were beaten at the same venue last time out, humbled by spin duo Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel on a surface that turned almost from the off, as India levelled the four-match series.
There are many unknowns ahead of the penultimate fixture at Ahmedabad as India have only ever hosted one pink-ball Test and, on that occasion, the home side’s seamers took all of the Bangladesh wickets in November 2019 in Kolkata.

Ben Stokes ramped up expectation as he divulged James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Jofra Archer have been “licking their lips”, adding net practice had to be halted when the lights came on as bowling became “really dangerous”.
Root, though, is braced for spin playing its part and the England captain has called on his side to learn lessons from the second Test, where no touring batsman accumulated more than Moeen Ali’s 49 runs across two innings.
“It’s going to spin at some point, it’s just a question of when,” he said. “That’s always the case when we come here. We experienced it very early in the last Test, it might not be the case quite so much this time around.
“Playing against India in the subcontinent you expect the ball to spin. We have to make sure we are in the best place to manage that.
“If they (India) go in with a similarly balanced team we should be mentally prepared for that and we should have put the work in this week which, from what I have seen, the guys have certainly done.
đ The Sardar Patel Stadium𤯠110,000 capacityđ The largest cricket ground in the world#INDvENG pic.twitter.com/4mmoBGEVpD
â England Cricket (@englandcricket) February 19, 2021
“If it is more seam-orientated then the experience of growing up in English conditions should be in our favour and it is about handling those conditions as best we can and try to exploit them with ball in hand.”
While Stokes admitted conditions at practice might be wholly different to ones they will be confronted with when the Test starts on Wednesday, the talismanic all-rounder is optimistic after what he saw in the nets on Sunday.
“Broady, Jimmy and Jofra have been licking their lips,” he told talkSPORT. “It’s been a completely different game. Whether that’s going to be similar in the middle we’re not sure.
“When the lights came on, the nets actually got really dangerous. The bowlers had to stop bowling in the nets because we were actually worried that some of the batters were going to get injured.”
Archer has confirmed his availability after having a cortisone injection on his elbow and while Root was keeping his cards close to his chest in terms of selection, the Yorkshireman said: “Jofra brings something very unique.

“He can do things others can’t and he is a very exciting prospect in that manner. If he is fully fit and going to be able to operate 100 per cent it would absolutely be great seeing him back out there playing.
“But we have to factor in everything when it comes to selection and make sure we feel we have the right combination to tackle the surface in front of us.”
Chris Woakes will leave the touring party at the end of the Test as part of England’s rotation policy, which came under scrutiny last week after Root told a press conference Moeen had “chosen” to depart.
Having privately apologised to Moeen, Root reiterated his regret at his wording on the eve of the third Test, where England will have to make at least one change, with Dom Bess possibly coming back into the team.
“I made a complete mistake,” he said. “That was my bad, I got that completely wrong. It wasn’t a true reflection of what had happened and it left it open to interpretation, which was unfair on Moeen.
“I was very quick to apologise to him. He shouldn’t have been put in that position, so that’s completely my fault.”
Latest
-
News
Kevin OâBrien says century against England helped Ireland âreach for the starsâ
OâBrien hit a 50-ball 113 as Ireland chased down a target of 328 in the 2011 World Cup.
-
News
Ian Harvey is Gloucestershire interim coach after Richard Dawson joins England
Dawson has accepted the position of ECB elite pathway coach
-
News
Marcus Trescothick, Jon Lewis and Jeetan Patel join Englandâs coaching staff
Trescothick has left his assistantâs role at Somerset.
-
News
Ben Foakes focuses on squaring the series with England
The tourists are 2-1 down going into the final Test against India.
-
News
Stonewall praises Steven Davies and warns âattitudes need to shift across sportâ
The 34-year-old wicketkeeper announced he was gay 10 years ago.
-
News
Charlotte Edwards backs womenâs cricket to keep âgrowing and growingâ
On Thursday Edwards became the first female president of the Professional Cricketersâ Association.
-
News
Heather Knight âfrustratedâ as England lose final ODI in New Zealand
Defeat ended a run of 10 straight wins across all formats for England
-
News
Jonathan Trott warns England not to get âtoo desperateâ against India spinners
The duo have taken a combined 42 wickets in the series so far.
-
News
Darren Gough fears England could be on the end of another hiding by India
Gough knows all about two-day Test wins.
-
News
Chris Silverwood hopes England batsmen can learn from quickfire third-Test loss
Silverwood would not be drawn into criticising the pitch.