Joe Root awaits birth of 2nd child, could miss July 8 Test vs West Indies

Root's wife, Carrie, is due to give birth to their second child at the start of July and the first Test in Southampton is scheduled to begin on July 8.

England Test captain Joe Root is likely to miss the first-Test of the three-match series against the West Indies slated for next month.

Root's wife, Carrie, is due to give birth to their second child at the start of July and the first Test in Southampton is scheduled to begin on July 8.

"It's evolving," Root was quoted as saying by BBC Sport. "It's being discussed with the medical team and we're trying to stay up to date."

"At the minute, it's still open for discussion. How that will finally look, I'm not exactly sure. It will have to come down to government advice, whatever that is. We'll follow those protocols and do whatever is right," he added.

The 29-year-old, who has not missed a Test since being appointed skipper in 2017, confirmed he will be at the birth regardless of the knock-on cricketing implications and also endorsed Ben Stokes to lead the side, who would have to step in he is unavailable.

"If Ben was captain, he would be fantastic," said Root.

"One of his great qualities as vice-captain is he sets the example - the way he goes about his training, how he wants to bowl in difficult circumstances, the way he stands up in different scenarios with the bat.

"He drags people with him and gets the best out of the players around him.

"That's a great quality to have as a leader and something he can take into captaincy if he was to get the opportunity. I could see him doing a very good job," he added.

Live Cricket Score India vs England 1st Test Day 3: India need early wickets to pin down England

Indian bowlers will look to get wickets early in the day, especially of England captain Joe Root's wicket, to keep the hosts under pressure. At the end of third day's play, England were 22 runs ahead.

India Vs England : On Day 3 of the first Test match, Virat Kohli and company need to take early wickets to keep the momentum in their favour which they had in the final session of Day 2. With the scorecard reading 148/6 after the departure of Hardik Pandya during the second session on Day 2, the situation looked extremely bleak for the Indians. 

The prospect of conceding a lead in excess of 100 looked likely and the visitors desperately needed a miracle to even minimise the damage that had been done. And the miracle came in the form of Virat Kohli century who added 92 runs for last 2 wickets, scoring 90% of the runs. To add salt to England miseries, Ashwin dismissed Alastair Cook to end the day with England at 9-1, 22 runs ahead of India.

What England need to do on Day 3?

England went to stumps on Day 2 at a score of 9/1, with Ravichandran Ashwin rattling Alastair Cook's off-stump off the last delivery of the day. The day, however, belongs to Virat Kohli, who fought against the odds to bring up his maiden century in England while almost single-handedly rescuing India from dire straits to help his side post a respectable total. 

With Cook disappointing yet again in the dying minutes of the day, England will have to count once again on Joe Root playing the anchor's role and building partnerships around him. More importantly, the home team will need their middle order to show more character in the second innings after the collapse in the first if they are to post a score in excess of 300, one that might just turn out to be a match-winning one for them.

How Virat Kohli escaped the ghost of 2014?

When Kohli last visited England in 2014, he scored just 134 runs in 10 innings and on Day 2 he scored 149 in one innings to show his class and somewhat he proved that he is world’s best batsmen in present time. During his 149-run knock, Kohli did struggle early on in the innings while facing the bowling of James Anderson and Sam Curran and was even dropped in the slip cordon by Dawid Malan while batting on 21. 

However, he did not let the bowlers get to his head and took on them with aplomb as he patiently scored a century. He kept losing wickets at the other end as none of the other batsmen managed to cross the 30-run mark. Towards the end of the innings, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav played second fiddle and stood around at the crease for a long time, despite scoring just 5 and 1 respectively. To put things in perspective, 92 runs came off the last two wickets and Ishant and Umesh just scored 6 of those. Kohli managed to keep strike for the majority of the deliveries and hit the boundaries whenever he got a chance.

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Ind vs Eng 1st Test, day 2: Can Kohli overcome Anderson scare at Edgbaston?

Indian batsmen would look to take advantage of the pitch which looked like a typical sub-continent wicket as the wicket which doesn't have bounce and starting turning from Day 1.

India Vs England : On the Day 2 of first Test match, India took 10 balls to take the last wicket. Now the onus will be on Indian batsmen to put a spirited batting performance to get an upper hand at Edgbaston cricket ground in Birmingham today. Mohammed Shami took the last wicket as he beautifully set up Sam Curran, an inswinger followed by a delivery shaped away which drew Curran into poking away from his body and a healthy outside edge, easily taken by the Dinesh Karthik. After a sub-par first two session on Day 1 India bounced back brilliantly after a spirited fielding by Virat Kohli to remove Joe Root in the final session picking 6 wickets. Ashwin’s bowling was the highlight of Day 1 as he picked 4 wickets and he will look to get his 5th scalp on day 2. On the other hand, Indian batsmen would look to take advantage of the pitch which looked like a typical sub-continent wicket as the wicket which doesn’t have bounce and starting turning from Day 1.

How Virat Kohli’s inspired fielding effort reduce England to 285/9 from 216/3

At 216/3 England were cruising and it seems they will get past 400- runs marks as Joe Root was looking set to get a big with Jonny Bairstow at the other ens. But a brilliant piece of fielding from Kohli saw the England skipper getting run-out for 80. Root tried to steal a second runoff Ravichandran Ashwin but Kohli ran quickly, picked up the ball and threw it in one swift motion to knock down the stumps with a direct hit. Jonny Bairstow also followed his captain as he chopped on Umesh Yadav delivery onto the wicket and England were not able to recover from the two quick blow after the tea. Ashwin kept things tight and get the two crucial wickets of Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler. Read Day 1 session by session report here.

Will India miss Cheteshwar Pujara at Number 3?

Cheteshwar Pujara’s poor form in recent past prompted Virat Kohli to exclude him from the playing 11. But the player-- Shikhar Dhawan—who was preferred over him is also not in the best of his form as he get a pair in the practice game against Essex and also have a very dismal record overseas, averaging only 24. However, Pujara form is also a concern as he didn’t score a half century during the first class summer. He has managed only 172 runs in six matches at an average of 14.33 for Yorkshire. He scored a mere 35 against Afghanistan in Bengaluru, and in the practice game at Chelmsford, he managed 1 and 23. In 2014, too, Pujara had has a poor series with a score of 222 in five matches at 22.20. But given Dhawan’s weakness against the moving ball, Pujara would have been much better choice.

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