Joe Root remembered to forget the pressure of his own approaching record when he would go past Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting. And noted a day later that whole he was aware of the numbers fixating on them would have helped him zilch.
“You know the numbers they are everywhere aren’t they. You try and put your mind out of it. It’s easy to get caught up in this sorta stuff. But at end of day, you are playing against India in one of the biggest series there is. It’s one of the most crucial days within that series. You got a real opportunity.The sun’s out. To try and get into a position where you can win the Test match,” he told Sky cricket”s Michael Atherton.
Simplifying the bigger picture he noted, “It’s not about you. It’s about winning the game. Getting your team in a position where you can follow through on that. You’re not doing your job properly if you concentrate on yourself,” he added.
When Ricky Ponting, looking dapper and like Hugh Jackman in a black shirt, asked Root to explain scoring 17 hundreds in first 97 Tests, and 21 in last 59, Root said he had worked plenty to bolster his survival skills on the crease. “I actually went away throughout COVID and I just spoke to Nass quite a bit about it. I said can I just get some footage from Sky to look at mode of dismissals and any trends and see it on different way. And I spoke to the analyst. I saw first 20 balls, and converting 50 into 100 trends. Or anything that I was doing. One thing that I’ve done within that period is actually try and look at the games differently,” Root told Sky.
His focus had consciously progressed from technique to eliminating risk. “Start of my career lot of it was based on technique. Where my hands were, where my head is, am I lined up. Is my trigger right? Whereas in second phase it’s been more about managing risk. Can I eliminate as much, as many modes of dismissal as possible. With the highest output,” he explained.
The man who said he had idolised the likes of Ponting and Sangakkara and who reckoned the 2005 Ashes series meant a lot to his generation, said run piles were a result of minimising dismissals and amping up scoring opportunities. “And sometimes conditions can be so extreme that the risk obviously has to go up. Ultimately it’s how you can take the ball on , or whatever is the biggest threat..how can I eliminate it as much as possible and still give myself scoring opportunities. Sometimes that might be by putting a little more pressure on the bowlers or you might have to score more aggressively against spin in sealing conditions and absorb against seamers. Whatever it is. Can I marry my skill to what’s out there in front of me whether it’s the surface or overheads or opposition.,” he described.
A fair bit of mentality ce into it. “Are guys using the crease. It’s a lot of information. But until you know your game really well and what your big strengths are and abilities are it’s very difficult to see the game like that so it comes through experience, through trial and error, through getting things wrong. But you gotta see the game for what it is. It’s very easy to get caught up in the game, get emotional. Either get too hard on yourself or feel too sorry for yourself. You’ve got to see for yourself,” he told Sky.
Story continues below this ad
Do u have to be a batting nuffie (nut) to be on this list? – Atherton asked. Ponting would answer. “Obviously, I mean look at Joe answering in depth about ways just to get a little bit better every game, every series, every year. And when you get to the backend of your career you’ve got to find ways to continually change and evolve because opposition will analyse you and you have to be ready year after year,” the No 3 on the list now, said.
