LONDON: England captain Joe Root said he was to be blamed for timid tactics during an 89-run partnership between India's tail-enders, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah on Day 5, resulting in a harrowing 151-run defeat for the host at Lord's.
Speaking at a media interaction after the match, Root said: "It (Shami-Bumrah partnership) was without question the pivotal moment in the game. Tactically, I don't think I dealt with that well enough as captain and it put us in a difficult position. A lot falls on my shoulders."
Root lamented England's performance with the bat in the fourth innings and said he expected the side to see through the 60 overs.
England was bundled for 120 with seamers Mohammed Siraj (4/32) and Jasprit Bumrah (3/33) scripting India's third win at the iconic venue after 1986 and 2014.
"I expected us to see the game through. Extremely disappointed that we didn't manage to. Credit to India. We do need to get better, score heavier. The guys know that and they've been working extremely hard, and there's a lot of cricket still left in this series. We've found ourselves in positions like this before and have come out on top," Joe Root added.
Root candidly admitted in hindsight that his tactical lapse forced England to play into India's strength. "Fair play to Virat and his team. They jumped on something that emotionally gave them an edge to cling onto."
"Tactically, if you find yourself in a similar situation, would you do things differently? Potentially yes, I would have. On a different wicket, in a different situation, it would have been different again. I need to look at things logically and not get sucked into a side-show and pick those last three wickets if we find ourselves in a similar situation again," he added.
Root acknowledged that his side is a work in progress and it is aiming to emulate the success of Virat Kohli's men in whites. The host had also lost its three key players before the series. While all-rounder Ben Stokes opted for a break to focus on his mental wellbeing, injuries ruled out seamers Chris Woakes and Jofra Archer.
"Virat's style is probably contrasting to the way I naturally play my cricket. Everyone's got their style and I think India has been a good side for a long time. We're in a slightly different position and we're trying to get to where they are. For four days of this Test, we played good cricket, and it's disappointing to find ourselves in this position after an average day on the field today."
Root opined that the burden of scoring runs has not affected his captaincy or vice-versa. The 30-year-old has waged a lone battle for England, scoring over 38 per cent of the team's runs in the two Tests so far in the series.
"I am an experienced captain now. I've played a lot of Test cricket as a batter and I'm at a different point in my career when compared with a lot of the other guys. Batting is a collective (effort) and there've been plenty of occasions in my career where others have carried me through the game and scored heavier than I have. We just got to be better at building the big partnerships," Root said. Agencies
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