Jofra Archer, at the end of Day 2, commented that this is not a wicket to bend your back on, and almost staying true to his dis-spirited comment, Archer ended up having a difficult day in the middle, so much so that even Ben Stokes made him look like an amateur bowler. Archer’s comments were directed at Naseem Shah, who felt, wouldn’t be able to do justice to his pace on such a flat wicket. In hindsight, it seemed like Shah was not only bowling to help his side secure a series lead, but to prove what a bowler’s attitude and work ethic can do if they stay committed to their process.

After realising that the ball was getting scuffed off and thus generating reverse, Shah traded his pace for cutters and full-length deliveries. His entire plan against Joe Root was to bowl from the side angle, thus keeping the ball low to push the English skipper on his exceptionally high backlift. A defensive Root was going forward almost every time, thus putting himself under the pressure of facing odd induckers, which made Naseem doubly threatening. When the pacer ran in from the over the wicket angle, the English left-handers - Burns and Stokes - prodded across, pretty much like the Stuart Broad-David Warner duel last year, and couldn’t take their step up easily. Naseem’s entire plan was based on the trick of adaptation and what was required for the situation, which only goes on to speak volumes about his ability - from which Archer can definitely take a lesson from. 

Since returning for the second Test between England and West Indies in Manchester, Root’s scores have read 23, 22, 17, 68*, 14 and 42 - these scores at an average of around 39. Throwing away his wicket after every settled batting display has become a hallmark of his red-ball batting in the last two years - precisely since the India series in 2018 and so much so that his career batting average has dropped below 50. So it brings the question - what is eating at Joe Root then? Is it captaincy alone? That is difficult to ascertain because since taking over leadership, Kohli, Williamson and for the time Smith was captain, set up their base on the peak, with no signs of slowing down. For India and Australia captaincy positions, the pressures are almost as surmountable as it is for an English captain, if not more.

There have been multiple parody accounts on Twitter, making fun of Ed Smith for his open backing of Jos Buttler, who in his 81-innings Test career so far, has scored only one century, yet commanded a place for god knows what. They are mostly right for this selection, to the naked eye, seems as ludicrous as it gets. However, there is a fundamentally better argument for Jos Buttler which is more than what normally meets the eye. For that, I won’t go too far behind as the recent four Tests alone leaves a testament to Buttler's solid work ethic and it is a shame that he hasn’t been able to transfix that on the go.