London [UK], August 4 : England batter Joe Root was full of praise for fellow Yorkshire mate Harry Brook following their 195-run partnership and the youngster's explosive counter-attacking ton, hailing his "consistency" and pointing out that he is not a "one-off fluke".
Brook's explosive 111 in 98 balls, along with a classic Root century, dashed India's hopes of an easy win while defending a massive 374, as the action heads to the final day, with 35 runs and three/four wickets (depending on Chris Woakes' availability to bat), still up for grabs for an English series win or a series draw.
Speaking about batting with Brook, Root said that it is "always a pleasure.'
"We have both got very contrasting games, but I think that works well in our favour. He plays slightly more expansively than I do and has a fantastic array of shots, but what I admire most is the amount of pressure he puts back on the opposition, the way he takes calculated risks at the right moments, and how he can open a game completely up, as he did today, it is great," he said.
Root said that it is amazing being a "second fiddle" to Brook and watching his fine shotmaking from the "best seat in the house".
"He ia an incredible talent and it is not like he is a one-off fluke. He has got 10 hundreds playing in a very similar manner. He is incredibly consistent at it and there is definitely a huge amount of method behind what he does. The impact that it has had on this test match is why we are sitting here only needing 35 to win. It has been an incredible knock," he added.
Speaking about his frustration about getting out to Prasidh Krishna, with whom he had a heated exchange during the first innings, Root said that his frustration had more to do with not being able to finish the game and it was not because of what transpired earlier between two.
"Prasidh is a proven performer. He is a brilliant player. You do not play for India as a seamer without having a huge amount of talent, and clearly he is going to do great things in the game, but it was not anything between the two of us that brought that on," he said.
"That was more frustration from my part for not getting us over the line. That is what you pride yourself on as a player, as an experienced batter in that situation. You have got to be able to absorb pressure and understand that they are allowed to bowl well for periods, and then when you get your opportunities to counter that, then you take them, and I just mis-executed on that occasion."
"When you are 100 not out, you do not expect that from yourself, so that is where the frustration came from. There was no overhang from what happened in the first innings or anything like that," he concluded.
Root also heaped praises on Mohammed Siraj, who kept troubling England with his relentless pace and bowled 26 overs, yielding figures of 2/95, he called the bowler a "warrior".
"He is someone that you want on your team. He is that kind of character. He gives everything for India, and it is credit to him for that, the way he approaches cricket. He has got this fake anger about him sometimes, which I can see straight through."
"You can tell he is actually a really nice lad. But he tries incredibly hard. He is a very skilful player."
"There is a reason why he's got the wickets he has, because one, his work ethic and two, his skill level. I enjoy playing against him. He always has a big smile on his face, and he will give everything for his team. I guess you could not want anything more of that as a fan watching, and a great example to any young player starting out," he concluded.
In the ongoing series, Siraj is the top wicket-taker with 20 scalps at an average of over 36, with a six-fer to his name and has bowled the most overs across both teams, with 181.2 overs.
Coming to the Test match, England ended the first session of day four at 164/3, needing 210 runs to win, with Harry Brook (38*) and Joe Root (23*) unbeaten. After England opted to bat first, they reduced India to 153/6. A 58-run partnership between Karun Nair (57 in 109 balls, with eight fours) and Washington Sundar (26 in 55 balls, with three fours) was the most meaningful part of the inning as India was bundled out for 224 runs. Apart from Gus Atkinson's five-wicket haul, Josh Tongue (3/57) was also good.
In the second innings, four-fers from Siraj (4/83) and Prasidh Krishna (4/62) reduced England to 247, despite a 92-run opening stand between Zak Crawley (64 in 57 balls, with 14 fours) and Ben Duckett (43 in 38 balls, with five fours and two sixes). They led by 23 runs.
In India's second innings, key contributions came from Yashasvi Jaiswal (118 in 164 balls, with 14 fours and two sixes), Akash Deep (66 in 94 balls, with 12 fours), Ravindra Jadeja (53 in 77 balls, with five fours) and Washington Sundar (53 in 46 balls, with four boundaries and four sixes). They all took India to 396 runs, giving them a 373-run lead and setting a target of 374 runs for England to win the series.
At the end of day four's play, England was 339/6, with Jamie Overton (0*) and Jamie Smith (2*) unbeaten. England still need 35 runs to win, with uncertainty over Chris Woakes coming to bat or not after a shoulder injury. Wickets from Akash Deep and Prasidh Krishna towards the end and a relentless spell from Mohammed Siraj towards the end of the session give India fans some hope that India will make the Three Lions toil really hard for these remaining runs.