Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], February 5 (ANI): England skipper Joe Root wants the team to make the most of their “impressive” start in the first innings of the first Test against India and is even targeting a total of 600-700 runs in the innings.
Root and Dom Sibley put England in control of the first Test, forming a stunning 200-run partnership on the opening day of the match against India here at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday. At stumps, England’s score read 263/3, with Root playing on 128 runs. However, India ended the day on a high as Jasprit Bumrah dismissed Sibley (87) in the 90th over.
“I think we got to look and try to get as many as we can, 600-700 if we can. And really try to make the most of the first innings… It has been a really impressive start to things, but we got to make it count now,” Root said after the end of day’s play.
He also said: “To come today and start the series in a way like we have, it could not have gone any better. Hopefully, we can build on that tomorrow.”
Notably, it was Root’s 100th Test and the player admitted that it was “very special” to get a hundred in his 100th Test.
Root has been in a very good form and has scored three hundreds in consecutive Tests, two against Sri Lanka followed by Friday’s knock. Reflecting on his form, the player said he has worked on a few technical things.
“I have worked on a few technical things and have look at few areas of my game and look at certain trends of how I was getting out and tried to eradicate it and tried to improve and evolve as a player. And at the moment, it seems to be working nicely,” he said. (ANI)