Joe Root Sends Red Alert For Team India Before Test Series

England skipper Joe Root's ability to rack up big scores like he did in Sri Lanka in the just-concluded Test series will be key for England to put up a fight against India in the four-Test series starting next...

Despite England's premier batsman's good run last time they toured India, his team lost the five-match series to India 0-4 and could cross 500-run total only once. That score of 500-plus came in the first Test in Rajkot, where Root scored his only century of the series, his 124 helping England post 537 from where they could dominate India.

Unfortunately for England, that was the only time in the series they dominated India and as Root failed to produce another three-figure knock, and England failed to put up a big score.

Root went on to score four half-centuries, but couldn't play a big knock that would allow the other batsmen to play around him.

The 124 in his very first innings in India during that series was followed by scores of 4, 53, 25, 15, 78, 21, 77, 88, and 6.

With the then skipper Alastair Cook failing to score big, it was imperative on Root to convert his fifties into big three-figure knocks at No.4.

This time though 30-year-old Root seems to have come with a plan to hold the innings together, as evident from his 400-plus tally against Sri Lanka. His excellent run somewhat papered over the poor performance of the other batsmen. England could produce only three half-centuries besides Root's two big centuries.

While Root topped the run charts in the just-concluded series, the next three top-scorers were Sri Lankans.

Root's overall performance in India is quite good. In six Tests in this country, he has aggregated 584 runs at an average of 53.09.