Root not resting despite series lead

England

England batsman Joe Root insists his side will be playing with full intensity and focus come the fifth and final Test against India at the Oval, despite leading the series two one and India in free fall.

England batsman Joe Root insists his side will be playing with full intensity and focus come the fifth and final Test against India at the Oval, despite leading the series two one and India in free fall.

After poor efforts in the first two matches, England have come back strongly to win the third and fourth games by hefty margins, with the senior players finally finding form to leave India on the back foot.

But the Yorkshire man insisted: "I don't think we can really rest on the fact we've played well in the last couple of games.

"We will really try to nail down what has been a good little bit of form in the last two games. We're definitely not going to take India lightly.

"We know India are going to come very hard at us, and we'll have to make sure we've got all bases covered and not be caught off guard.

"That [short ball] will be one area I'm sure a lot of the lads will be working on within their own games."

The batsman went on to say that the dire Ashes in Australia helped his batting rather than hindering it, and he's gone on to make a string of big scores since the series against Sri Lanka in June.

He added: "If anything, that winter put things in perspective for me. I obviously struggled, as did a lot of people out in Australia.

"Something I've taken from that trip is that when you get in you have to make sure you take it. A lot of people have taken that attitude over this summer, and it's shown."

He also commented on fast bowler Stuart Broad's facial injury, after he got smashed in the face by a Varun Aaron bouncer in the fourth Test. Root said that while the paceman looked slightly worse for wear, he was still ready for The Oval.

Root joked: "It's not very pretty. He's not got his 'boy-band' looks you'd normally associate with Stuart. He's milking it definitely…as you'll probably have seen on all the social network sites.

"But I'm sure he'll be desperate to play on Friday. He's obviously in good form…and will be wanting to finish the series strongly with the rest of us."

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