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Alastair Cook and Zak Crawley shower England star Joe Root with praise after sublime century against India

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Joe Root returned to his best on day one of England’s fourth Test in India (Picture: Getty)

Alastair Cook branded Joe Root’s century in England’s fourth Test against India ‘pure and utter class’ after the batter hit back at his recent critics in style in Ranchi.

Root has struggled to replicate his world-class best in India, failing to make it into the 30s in any of his opening six innings as the hosts bounced back from defeat in Hyderabad to take a 2-1 series lead previously.

The Yorkshireman’s reverse-scoop dismissal to spark a collapse in England’s first innings last time out in Rajkot drew heavy criticism from some quarters, with the likes of Michael Vaughan and Phil Tufnell urging him to return to his natural game.

Any doubts over Root’s enduring quality were banished on the opening day at Ranchi’s JSCA International Stadium after the tourists were reduced to 112-5 by some excellent India bowling in challenging conditions.

Akash Deep shone on debut to remove Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope before Root and Bairstow shared a vital partnership to keep England afloat.

After Bairstow was dismissed for an entertaining 38 from 35 balls, Ben Stokes fell for just three and Root stepped up alongside Ben Foakes, who was caught out for 47 off Mohammed Siraj’s bowling.

By stumps, Root – the number five ranked Test batter on the planet – steered England to 302-7 with a display of skill and bottle, finishing not out on 106 from 226 balls, with Ollie Robinson unbeaten on 31.

The former England skipper is 106 not out from 226 balls (Picture: Getty)

‘When you see someone go through a little trouble it is always great to see them out the other end,’ former England captain Cook said in the TNT Sports studio.

‘When great players don’t score runs it is only a matter of time before they do, if they keep doing what they do.

‘I think what Joe Root did today is he went back to his absolute basics, playing the shots you would expect Joe Root to play.’

Crawley heaped praise on Root after the batsman’s sublime ton (Picture: Getty)

Cook added: ‘All the talk about the reverse scoop being unusual… this is a very typical Joe Root innings. Slightly slower than normal but his tempo and his rhythm of batting is what makes him stand up.

‘When he’s in fine flow he’s just got such a nice, easy way about him, Rohit-like in terms being unhurried. Just pure and utter class.

‘He’s a great player of spin because he picks lengths so well and has all the options covered.’

Akash Deep has impressed on debut for the hosts (Picture: Getty)

Meanwhile, Crawley stressed that the England dressing room never had any doubts that the ‘phenomenal’ Root would return to form after a difficult start to the series.

‘We were chuffed for him, to be honest. We never doubted Joe,’ the England opener said shortly after the close.

‘If he gets a couple of low scores he’s even more due than before so we fully expected him to go out and get runs in this game.

‘He’s just a phenomenal, phenomenal player, one of the best, if not the best, that we’ve ever had for England so we expected it from him.’

Asked whether he would have taken a score upwards of 300 as England fell to 112-5, Crawley replied: ‘100 per cent.

‘Those boys played unbelievably for that 100-odd partnership. Robbo [Ollie Robinson] and Tommy [Tom Hartley] batted really well as well.

I said that when I got out, I said: “If we get anything late 200s, 300s, that’s a really good score”, and I stand by that. I think we’re ahead of the game.’

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