Root, 32, is considered as one of the finest batters in the modern era. He played a scintillating knock of 118* off 152 balls in the first innings of the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston. Root continued his good form in the second innings as well, contributing with a vital 46 to help England set a 281-run target for Australia in the fourth innings. In the first innings, Root played a couple of reverse scoops to perfection and deposited the balls from Pat Cummins and Scott Boland for sixes over the third man.
Fans and experts were in awe of Root’s brilliance. The aggressive mindset from Root was on show in the second innings as well. He stepped out to Boland, forcing Alex Carey to come up to the stumps. Root went back to the reverse scoops and hit one six and a four off Boland, thereby scoring 16 off a single over.
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Joe Root was picked in the Indian Premier League auction last year by the Rajasthan Royals at his base price. The star English batter played in IPL 2023, his first stint in the cash-rich league. Root played just three matches where he got to bat on one occasion only. However, he spent two months with the team, and England legend Kevin Pietersen feels that the campaign helped him pick up some of the jaw-dropping unorthodox shots that he has played in the ongoing first Ashes Test.
“The sky is the limit for Root with the brain he has and also his work ethic, which is like none other. With 11,000 Test runs, he could be, ‘I’ve got enough, I could swan around, get a hundred, watch everyone the next morning warm up and play football with the lads’. No, no. Every single morning Root is out there wanting to improve. We are lucky enough to watch a master and long may that continue,” Kevin Pietersen told Sky Sports.
“It would have been in those two months in the IPL [with Rajasthan Royals] where those shots would have been ingrained in his game,” Pietersen added.
Heading into the final day of the first Test, both England and Australia would be fancying their chances. While the wickets of David Warner, Marnus Labuschagne, and Steve Smith, late on Day 4, dented the hopes of the away side, the in-form Usman Khawaja remained unbeaten on 34 and will have nightwatchman Scott Boland (13*) for the company when Day 5 gets underway.
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Stuart Broad was almost unplayable in his spell in the closing stages of Day 4. He picked up the crucial wickets of Smith and Labuschagne and will be waiting to unleash on the remaining Australian batters on Day 5. The equation is simple. 174 runs to win for Australia. Seven wickets to get for England.
