India vs England 2021: We Have Got Many Good Players Who Can Fill Zak Crawley's Position - Joe Root

England Test captain, Joe Root opines that he has got plenty of options at his disposal to choose a replacement for Zak Crawley for the first Test match against India in Chennai which begins on Friday.

Crawley has been ruled out for the two Tests in Chennai after slipping on the marble floor outside the visitors’ dressing room at the MA Chidambaram Stadium resulting in a sprained joint and local inflammation.

The right-hander was to bat at number 3 after opening in Sri Lanka since Rory Burns returns to the side – the left-hander opted out of the tour to Sri Lanka to attend the birth of his child. In fact, Crawley may not have played in the first Test considering he scored only 35 runs in 4 innings in Sri Lanka.

Nonetheless, England has plenty of depth in the squad: Ben Stokes and Ollie Pope will return to the side, Moeen Ali is likely to be picked in the eleven, and youngster Dan Lawrence was impressive against the Lankans. Joe Root says that they are yet to lock the playing combination and the eleven for the first Test and is happy to have several alternatives to fill Crawley’s place.

“A number of different combinations we can go with. I think that that’s the really exciting part of it. We have now got many good players that can bat in different positions and fill different roles. It’ll be silly to write anything off right now,” Joe Root said to the media.

Joe Root to play his 100th Test

Joe Root made his Test debut in Nagpur against India in the 2012 series – the last series that India lost on its home soil – and now he will wear his 100th Test cap when he takes the field against Virat Kohli’s team in Chennai. Joe Root touted to become the greatest English batsman, has amassed 8249 Test runs at an average of 49.39.

Contrary to most overseas batsmen of the past, the right-hander has been brilliant in Asian conditions – he averages 54.13, better than his career average of 49.39, with 4 hundred in Asia.

The 30-year-old is coming off a terrific series against Sri Lanka – he scored 426 runs at 106 – and will look to stamp his authority over the subcontinent giants.

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