England’s foundation looks strong with the ‘Root Effect’

At half-time, no one would have imagined such a turnaround from the English side who was looking down and out from the contest, after the Proteas piled up 229 in their 20 overs. Recovering from a fresh wound which Chris Henry Gayle gave England in their first Super 10 encounter, the English bowling department was shredded once again by the strong South African batting line-up. But, the onslaught from the likes of Hales, Roy, and Root scripted a historic chase for the England team who kept their hopes alive in the ICC World Twenty20 2016. England won the match by two wickets and two balls to spare, this is the highest run-chase by any team in World T20 and the second highest overall.

Joseph Edward Root, a young lad from Yorkshire played the role of the protagonist in the historic win, he made the impossible possible by his calculative hitting and some fantastic batting under pressure. Root scored 83 runs off just 44 deliveries which included 4 maximums and 6 fours. Root is always regarded as a top-class test batter, but on Friday night in front of jam-packed Wankhede, he simply proved all his odds wrong by playing the innings of his life.

Through all innings, he hardly put a foot wrong and looked determined to take his side home. He’s the epitome of the modern batsman and is a match-winner for England in any format of cricket. The fact that he played only four dots in his whole innings of 83 shows his mindfulness to assess the situation in the hour of need. On top of this, he looks calm and composed at the crease and his never say die attitude makes Root a complete package as a cricketer. He not only saved England from an early elimination in an ICC event but also gave the side a new hope and confidence which will come in handy at the later stages of the tournament.

According to sources, Root said in the after match conference, “There’s no better feeling than winning a game of cricket when you’re up against it”.

“But the fact that we can pull off performances like that with the bat will give us a lot of confidence going into the rest of the group stage, and hopefully further on in the tournament as well. In this format of the game you’ve always got a chance, and with the depth in our batting, we always knew that if we got off to a good start we were more than capable of winning that game.

He further added, “The guys kept calm under pressure and managed to hold their nerve.”

Batting legend Brian Lara also congratulated Root for his incredible innings:

I'm proud to see a top class TEST BATSMAN @root66 play the most outstansing innings of the #ICCWT20 leading ENG to an impropable win. #class

— Brian Lara (@BrianLara) March 18, 2016

Continuing his good form, Joe Root earlier scored crucial 48 off 36 balls in England’s first Super 10 encounter against West Indies. An interesting fact is that Joe likes South African bowling line-up personally, his stats justifies this fact even more. Earlier this year in February, he notched up two tons and a half-century against Proteas on their home soil. Although, England lost the series 3-2. Hailing from Yorkshire, Joe Root has often been compared to the great Geoffrey Boycott and Michael Vaughan, Yorkshire’s two finest batsmen who served England cricket for long.

Root is currently ranked No.2 in test cricket behind Steven Smith of Australia. He also features among the top 10 batsmen in ODI cricket and is ranked No. 10. He averages 55 in test cricket, almost 45 in ODI’s and 40 in T20 internationals. Touted as the future England captain, Joe Root is without a doubt a world-class player and the whole world will want to see more of him in the upcoming years. He has somewhat changed this old phrase, “Keep your eye on the ground” – it will be more like – “Keep your eye on the Root.”