Edgbaston| A game filled with mixed reactions, a game filled with performances from both teams, and a game that narrates a perfect tale of a comeback from the English side. When Ben Stokes took over the captaincy from Joe Root with Brendon McCullum as the head coach, nobody had imagined that England will have a sudden turnaround to their fortunes in the red ball format.
In the last Test match against India, England had nothing to lose but everything to win and they have done it in style. With heavy defeat in the Ashes and their Test series against the West Indies, it was required that England revamp their playing style, similar to what they did after the 2015 ODI World Cup in Australia. India was 2-1 up in the series and a draw or a defeat meant that India was clinching the series. With 378 runs to chase, India was always in with a chance to defeat England but tactical errors from the visitors ensured that England was in the driving seat.
Before this, England have chased down 359 runs at Headingley against the mighty Australians which remained their highest successful chase. But the English batsmen outdid themselves and set a new record for themselves by beating India rather successfully with seven wickets remaining.
Former skipper Joe Root seems to be in the form of his life and is piling on centuries for fun at the moment. Root who stepped down from his captaincy duties earlier this year is milking runs for fun and it seems that there is no stopping him at the moment. Root crossed the 10,000 Test runs mark earlier this year and has earned himself a place in the elite group of Test players.
Root could not make any notable contribution in the first innings, but he made sure that he brings his best to the table when the situation arose. In the second innings, England looked in some sort of difficulty with Alex Lees & Zack Crawley departing in quick succession. While chasing down a record 378 runs, Root scored 142* off 173 runs which include 14 boundaries and 1 six.
Here is how Twitter reacted to Root's brilliance:
