Joe Root Reacts To India's Defeat In New Zealand, Fancies England's Chances In Test Championship

England captain Joe Root believes his team is in a good position to gain some advantage in the ongoing ICC World Test Championship after India’s slip against New Zealand. New Zealand stunned the world number one Test side by completely outplaying them in the two-Test series.

The Black Caps won the series-opener by ten wickets before winning the second one by seven wickets. The series defeat was India’s first in the ongoing Test Championship after they won three series (seven Tests) in a row. Despite the defeat, India are comfortably placed at the top of the points table with 360 points with no other team managing to touch the 300-point mark so far.

England could close the gap in the upcoming series against Sri Lanka and can also overtake India in their home season. The Joe Root-led side is currently placed at fourth position with 146 points and could move to third position if they do well in the two-match series against Sri Lanka.

Joe Root is well aware of the opportunity as he said that India’s loss has thrown things wide open. The England star said that with six Tests at home after the Sri Lanka series, his team has got a great opportunity to get into the top two of the points table.

“New Zealand turning India over twice has thrown things wide open,” said Joe Root at Heathrow ahead of England’s departure to Sri Lanka.

“With these matches and then six Tests at home in the summer this feels like a great opportunity to give ourselves a real chance of pushing for one of those top two spots,” he added.

In their home season, England will play three Tests each against West Indies and Pakistan and could very well rise to the top of the points table if they manage to win all the games.

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