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Root takes the hard road to renewed success
- Updated: December 16, 2016
Joe Root feels a session batting on a road inside the Chepauk stadium had helped him rediscover his fluency ahead of the fifth Test in Chennai.
Keen to gain some practice time after feeling his footwork was “all over the place” in the previous Test in Mumbai, Root turned up the day before the match to find that the net facilities at the ground were not fit for use following the cyclone that hit the city in recent days.
When the contingency plan – a session on the hard tennis courts at the stadium – also had to be abandoned due to the storm damage, Root decided that the road was the next best option.
So while the conditions for his 30 minutes of throwdowns from batting coach Mark Ramprakash were not ideal, he felt the experience – one that was reminiscent to his youth playing in parks and garden and on roads – helped relax him and remind him of the simple pleasures of the game.
“My feet were all over the place against the seamers in Mumbai,” Root said, “so I wanted to iron a few things out.
“We tried to do it away from the cameras just in case it went pear-shaped. We were kindly helped by a few of the local guys and managed to get a few things sorted.
“It was nice to have that peace of mind going into the game, having worked on …
