|| India Correspondent ||
England captain Joe Root has justified his position in the 'Fab Four' alongside Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson and Steve Smith by smashing three consecutive Test centuries, applauds former England skipper Nasser Hussain.
Notably, Joe Root has been in a swashbuckling form this year. After scoring 228 and 186 runs in Sri Lanka last month, he scored a fine century in the series-opener against India, in the occasion of his 100th Test match.
"It's fitting that Joe Root proved he's a true great by scoring a hundred in his 100th Test," Hussain wrote in his column for 'Sky Sports'. "Some people were starting to doubt if he belongs to that group of Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson and Steve Smith when he went through a lean patch last year – but don't forget he was still averaging 40 in that period!" Hussain shared.
"During the long break enforced by lockdown and the pandemic he thought 'how am I going to go back to being the Joe Root that I was?' He watched videos of various people and looked at his game and three hundreds in a row suggests he's analysed his game pretty well!" he further said.
However, former England player Ian Bell too echoed Hussain's views. "The four players that we talk about, the other three, they play at such a high level and are so consistent over a period of time. Joe himself said he didn't score a century in 2020 which isn't up to the standard or consistency he has played at over a period of time," Bell said to 'ESPNcricinfo'. "What I do know is that in the break due to COVID he has worked extremely hard in the little technical areas and he has the hunger to get better."
The second Test between India and England will be played in Chennai before the series will shift to Ahmedabad and later Pune. With New Zealand already qualified for the final of World Test Championship (WTC), it will be interesting to see who will grab the second place.