TIMELY TON FROM STRUGGLER ROOT BRINGS ENGLAND BACK FROM BRINK

JOE ROOT rose above the carnage of a frantic morning session and the strange mediocrity of his own tour so far to rescue England with a masterful hundred on the opening day of the crucial Fourth Test in Ranchi.

- Malik Ouzia

Choosing first use of a fiendish surface that England captain Ben Stokes had described as unlike any he has seen in his career, the tourists lost five wickets before lunch at the start of a contest that, at 2-1 down in the five-match series, they must win to stay alive.

From 112 for five, though, a partnership of 113 between Root and Ben Foakes arrested the slide, the former unbeaten in taking England to 302 for seven approaching stumps.

On the eve of the Test, head coach Brendon McCullum had spoken of Root’s return to form as a matter of inevitability, England’s premier batter having averaged just 13 in the series and looking increasingly muddled in search of a balance between methods old and new.

His hand forced as much by circumstance and conditions as the backlash to his reverse-scooping Rajkot demise, this was Root back to his best: risk-free, rotating and clinical. The shot of the day, a wonderful drive threaded through extra-corner, brought up the 31st Test match ton of one of the great careers, and should England go on to force a decider, this will be regarded among the most important of the lot.