We’re trying to be like India, they are a very good Test side: Joe Root

India registered a stunning victory against England on day five of the second Test match by 151 runs at Lord’s Cricket Stadium. It was a fantastic performance from the visiting team, led by their bowlers who also contributed with the bat in hand. Day five began on a bad note for India when they lost the wicket of Rishabh Pant.

But in a rare rearguard action seen in the history of Indian cricket, the tail-end batters did exceptionally well with Mohammed Shami leading the way by scoring an unbeaten 56. He was equally well-supported by Jasprit Bumrah and Ishant Sharma, who scored an unbeaten 34 and 16 respectively. The duo shared an unbroken 89 run-stand for the ninth wicket. Indian skipper Virat Kohli could thus boldly declare at 298, setting the home team a target of 272 to get in 60 overs of the last day at Lord’s.

Kohli’s aggressive style of captaincy was again there for all to see. He not only egged Shami and Bumrah when the duo was batting but also set an aggressive field for the England batters. At one stage of the Test match, it looked like England would win the game, Joe Root ended up on a losing side and was shell-shocked with the outcome, to say the least. Speaking at the post-match press conference, Root shed light on Kohli being the aggressive captain.

Joe Root on Virat Kohli’s style of captaincy

“Virat got his style and his way of doing things and, it’s probably contrasting to the way I naturally play my cricket. But I think everyone’s got their own styles and their own ways of doing things I think India as well has been a very good side for a long period of time. And I think we’re in a slightly different position, we’re trying to get to where they are and we need to keep finding ways of improving and getting better.”

“So and for four days of this game, I think you know we played some really good cricket. You know it was disappointing to find ourselves in this position now after pretty average days. We just need to be better for a longer run and, that’s pretty much how I see it,” Root said.