Be a little bit braver and play with more freedom: that’s the message Joe Root has for his teammates as England must win the fourth and final Test in Ahmedabad in order to avoid yet another series defeat in India.
For quite some time now, England haven’t lost the final Test of a series, which does boost the skipper’s morale going into the game.
“We’ve got all the ingredients, all the pieces and all the skills to exploit and succeed in these conditions. It’s important we harness them and be a bit braver actually and play with a little bit more freedom,” Root said.
The visitors were hit by a bout of illness over the recent days with some of the players and assistant coach Paul Collingwood going down with the symptoms. But according to Root, all the members of the squad were “fit and fine” and available for selection.
England do understand that the Motera pitch is unlikely to be anything different from what it was in the third Test, but Root wants his men to make sure they don’t get “scared” of the conditions.
“We need not to be ultra-aggressive, but we have to play our game in a certain way and not be scared of the conditions. It’s having that confidence to play the ball in front of you, not having the baggage from the previous delivery, not overthinking about the pitch and trying to see things for what they are.
“And if you get an opportunity to score, you absolutely have to commit to it. That kind of mentality and attitude is really important on surfaces that are extreme and spinning quite heavily. You need to be able to put pressure back on the bowlers,” he emphasised.
Elaborating on his idea of what fearlessness is, Root stated: “Being fearless is not having that tentative mentality of being trapped in the crease or being caught in two minds.”
“I’d hate it if we just sit in a bunker the whole time and try and defend our way through it. We do have to be clear about where we rotate the strike and trust that side of our game as well as our defence,” Root added.
Admitting England erred with their team combination in the last Test, Root hinted at Dom Bess’s return. “We didn’t envisage it would spin as much. If the pitch is anything like the last one of course Dom would be a fantastic option on this surface and he’d be licking his lips at the opportunity.”