New Delhi: The 2nd Test between India and England is underway at the Dr. Y. S. Rajashekar Reddy ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium. The hosts won the toss and elected to bat first.
James Anderson opened the bowling for the Three Lions and in a surprising move, Joe Root opened the bowling from the other end. With the feat, Root scripted history with the ball as he became the second England spinner after Jack Leach to open the bowling in the first innings of a Test in the last 102 years.
Notably, Leach became the first spinner for England when he was handed the first over in 2022 against Pakistan. Root has been brilliant with the ball in this series, as he took five wickets in the opening match, which helped England register a 28-run win over India.
Over the years, Root worked on his bowling and emerged as a good all-rounder for the Three Lions. Root, who has 11,447 runs with the bat in Test cricket, also has 65 Test wickets, which feature a five-wicket haul.
Also, on January 31, ICC updated their weekly ranking charts, where Joe Root went past Ben Stokes to become England’s highest-ranked Test all-rounder. Root is placed in the fourth spot on the table, while Stokes, who is away from bowling because of his knee issue, slipped to the fifth place.
The fans also reacted to Joe Root opening the bowling alongside James Anderson. Here are some of the reactions.
Besides scripting records with the ball, Root also let his bat do the talking. The 33-year-old went past Sachin Tendulkar to become the leading run-getter in the India-England Test series.
England’s performance in the first Test
In the first match, England, batting first, put 246 runs on the board with Ben Stokes being the sole player for the Three Lions to score a fifty. Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin took three wickets each in that innings.
India, in reply, posted 436 on the board, with Jadeja shining with the bat as he amassed 87 (180). Joe Root was the key bowler for England and picked up four wickets. That innings was the one where Stokes thought of Joe as a potential threat to Indian batters.
In the 2nd innings, England cut off India’s 190-run lead and scored 420 runs courtesy of Ollie Pope’s 196 (278). India failed to chase a target of 230 as spinner Tom Hartley and Joe Root picked up eight wickets.
Ahead of the 2nd match, England’s Jack Leach was ruled out of the Vizag match because of a knee injury.