England vs India: Have a chance of winning the match, says Joe Root after day 4

England skipper Joe Root put in a masterful performance on Saturday with an incredible knock of 109 runs to leave England with a fighting chance against India. It was in the first of the five-match test series that is being played between the two countries. At the end of day 4, India only needed 157 runs to win the first test match. With an entire day of play remaining, it is likely that Virat Kohli’s men will seal the victory. The England skipper, however, believes that his side can still come out on top The English bowling attack is good enough to take the match away from the Indians and if conditions are favorable, there could be an unexpected win for England on the cards.

“In the context of the game, it felt very good to go and make a big score and a big contribution, to get us into a position where now we have a chance of winning this Test match,” the England skipper said while speaking to the media after the game.

He also believed that he had found his rhythm back after his brilliant century. “I felt pretty good throughout this whole game, felt I got my rhythm back. I worked very hard at that for a period of time now. To get ourselves to a position where we could get a really good score on the board was really pleasing,” Root said.

Good atmosphere in the ground – Joe Root

The England skipper also took the opportunity to thank the ones closest to him after his brilliant performance on the day.

“I really enjoyed the atmosphere within the ground. I felt like I played really nicely. The 5-10 minutes leading into actually getting a hundred was a bit hairy as well so it was quite a lot of relief in that respect.

“A couple of lbw shouts and I kept smacking them to the fielders; it felt I was trying to get out but I promise you I wasn’t. It was an opportunity to say thank you to everyone in the ground and to my wife and all the teammates with me.”

The England side amassed 303 runs in their second innings. It was definitely an improvement from the first as they had only managed to make 183 on that occasion.

Root was by far the highest run-scorer as he made 109 runs off 172 deliveries. Jonny Bairstow and Sam Curran also chipped in with small but useful contributions to help the three lions get past the 300-run mark.

Bairstow scored 30 and Curran made 32. In reply, India scored 52 runs for the loss of one wicket at the end of day 4. Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara are the batters in the middle for Kohli’s men.

Early wickets could be key

Despite the troublesome situation they find themselves in, Joe Root believes that a few early wickets on day 5 could be the key to snatching the match away from the Indians.

“You always want more (runs), but now I feel there are chances [of winning] on that surface. There are going to be opportunities; we just have to catch very well when those chances come but it certainly felt like there’s still plenty on that wicket.

“You get a couple of early ones tomorrow, it’s a funny old game, 150-160 seems to grow, it seems to get a lot bigger,” Root said.