Former England captain Nasser Hussain has suggested Joe Root to overcome his ‘nemesis’ Jasprit Bumrah in the rest of three matches against India. The series is poised at 1-1 after the hosts bounced back in Visakhapatnam with a 106-run win. Root, who is known for his batting prowess in subcontinent conditions, is yet to perform at his usual best. He has registered scores of 29, 2, 5, and 16 in four innings so far and his match-up with Bumrah has been one-sided.
The Indian vice-captain has dismissed Root on three out of four occasions while Ashwin had him once, in the final innings of the second Test in which he scored a 10-ball 16.
In his latest column for The Daily Mail, Hussain cautioned Root about Bumrah coming into the attack as soon the Englishman walks out in the middle in the rest of the three Test matches.
“Once a bowler’s got one over on you it’s a mental thing as much as a technical thing. You know what’s coming and unless Bumrah gets injured, or Root’s own finger is a problem, it’s coming for six more innings. Root has always found a way to counter his biggest challenges and right now it is Bumrah,” wrote Hussain.
“As a five-match Test series progresses, individual battles are created along the way and particularly if the ball is reverse swinging, you can bet India captain Rohit Sharma will get Bumrah on to him. Root just does not know which way it’s going at the moment” he added.
‘Bazball doesn’t work for him’
Root’s 16-run knock in England’s chase of 399 in Vizag has once again put the ‘Bazball’ concept under scrutiny. Hussain opined Root’s struggles will only strengthen the narrative of Bazball working against him despite his good numbers in the past few years.
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“The narrative will be that Bazball doesn’t work for him when actually one look at the raw statistics tells you otherwise. His numbers are actually superior in this period than previously in his career. A similar discussion began in New Zealand a year ago when he tried to reverse sweep Neil Wagner, and re-directed the ball to slip,” said Hussain.
Ever since Brendon McCullum overtook as England’s Test coach and introduced the new style of playing the longest format, Root’s batting average has surged from 49.19 to 52.63 in 20 Tests. His overall average until that point was slightly under 50 in 117 outings.
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