Veteran England batter Joe Root was happy with England’s chase after the opening defeat, saying that grinding out wins in testing conditions was a sign of good teams.

“That’s what the game is all about. 1-1 in the series going to Lord’s. In those conditions, staying till the end and getting the win, that’s what it’s all about. Getting the win was the important thing,” he said in the post-match presentation. “Conditions were difficult to bat on, and we needed those partnerships to soak up the pressure. Sometimes you have to scrap for it and win ugly.”

However, Joe Root also brushed aside all criticism surrounding England’s recent ODI form, saying that the side had once again shown its ability to bounce back after a defeat.

“It depends how you look at it. I mean, you could look at the last 30 games and look at our record, or you could look at the here and now. And I think this team should be judged on the here and now. We won in Sri Lanka, the first team to win there for four years. And similarly to that series, we lost the first game, learned lessons, and evolved and got better and adapted. And that’s exactly what we did again today,” he added.

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The challenge is, can we do it at Lord’s when the pressure’s on against, again, a brilliant team, the number one-ranked team in the world. For us to stand up and play like that, I think, shows where we are and is a good benchmark for us. So, let’s back it up again at Lord’s. And then I think there’s a very different look to, or perception to where this team is. I think it’s in a different place to where some might think it is.,” he shared again.

He also opened up on the batting conditions and whether it was tough to chase the total.

“I think throughout the whole game it was difficult to bat. And I think our bowlers did a brilliant job once they got that partnership, to peg them back to that score, gave us the opportunity to bat time and to soak up a bit of pressure in different periods of the game, if and when we needed to. And I thought we did that well on the whole. And obviously to get across the line, sometimes you’ve got to win scrappy and ugly. And like I say, we now go to Lord’s with everything to play for,” Root further added.

However, he also opened up on being stranded on 99 as England chased down the total before he reached the three-figure mark.

“I’ve got out a few times, funny, but no. But like I said, that’s not what you play for. You play to win games. And this series is very much alive now, which is what we intended at the start today. And I’m very much looking forward to a big game at Lord’s now,” Joe Root concluded.