3 Batting stars of tomorrow - Legends to be

3. Joe Root (England):

Joe Root made his debut against India in 2012, the year when England won a Test series after almost 28 years. He scored a solid 73 in his debut innings in a drawn Test match. Root then played to back to back New Zealand series’ home and away where he did reasonably well scoring a century and a half-century in 4 Tests. And then came, the big moment which every England cricketer waits for, the Ashes. In the Ashes of 2013 in England, Root was the 3rd highest run-getter for England and went on to score an impressive 180 at the top of the order and winning the game for his side by a massive margin of 347 runs. England won that series 3-0 and Root played a substantial role in that success.

Until that point, the English top order was stacked with batting stars, Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen, Joe Root was a welcome addition to this. But a disastrous Ashes in the 2013-2014 Australian summer changed all of that.

With Pietersen and Trott out of favour, Bell, and Cook out of form, England needed a new hero, and in the form of Joe Root they found one. He scored 777 runs in 2014 in 7 Test matches at an average of 97.12 with 3 centuries and 3 fifties. He showed glimpses of class, especially against the Indians where England fought back a 1-0 deficit to win the 5 match series 3-1, the success of which is largely credited to Root.

In 2015, after a deplorable World Cup, Root scored a couple of centuries against the touring Kiwis in a closely fought ODI series which England won 3-2. In the all-important Ashes, Root struck two well-timed centuries and was his side’s leading run-getter with 460 runs at an average of 57.40. England won the Ashes 3-2 and salvaged some lost pride after their early exit from the World Cup. Root’s heroics with the bat earned him the Man of the Series.

At the age of 24, Root has already seen a lot of ups and downs in his career both as a player and for his team. In the on-going series against Pakistan, Joe Root has been unlucky to miss out on hundreds on 3 occasions getting out in the 80s twice and once on 77. And in the 2nd Test it was his wicket that changed the course of the game in both the innings. He would rue the fact that he didn’t go on to make a big century as England lost the 2nd Test.

During the course of the series, he has reclaimed the top spot in the ICC Batsmen’s Rankings which he claimed and then relinquished to Steve Smith during the Ashes.

The next few months pose a lot of challenges for this youngster. But in sports, like other aspects of life, the way you perform under pressure and face tough challenges is what defines you and it will be exciting to see what Root does in the coming months.