Joe Root 2.0 — a perfect symmetry between unorthodoxy and consistency
The HinduOf all the ways that Joe Root could have sauntered to his 36th Test hundred, against New Zealand at the Basin Reserve in Wellington last week, you would think that a reverse ramp over the wicketkeeper off a tall fast bowler was fraught with the maximum risk. It has understandably led to the big question: can Root, who has 12,886 runs after 151 Tests, go past Sachin Tendulkar’s colossal mark of 15,921 runs in 200 Tests? As opposed to Smith’s exaggerated back-and-across shuffle and Kohli’s perpetual problems outside the off-stump, Root has a more textbook foundation that’s continuing to hold him in good stead. He needs a pre-delivery movement because that works for him.” Modest returns Down Under For all of Root’s accolades, though, the one glaring anomaly in his illustrious career is his record in Australia. “That’s the only thing stopping Joe Root,” Lehmann said on ABC Radio during the first Test between Australia and India in Perth.