India vs England 1st Test: Joe Root says Englishmen eye big wicket of Cheteshwar Pujara

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Chennai, February 4: Cheteshwar Pujara was India's bedrock in the recent series against Australia, that the former won 2-1 to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. There were batsmen who scored more runs than him.

But without Pujara absorbing all those pressures and blows, India would have struggled to tame the Aussie quicks, who looked poised to ram through the visitors' line-up after the day-night Test at Adelaide.

However, Pujara worked as a glue as others batted around him for the rest of the series. Now, England are on Indian shores and their skipper Joe Root knows how important a wicket is Pujara's for them and he did not conceal it either.

"I think he is a fantastic player, I had the pleasure of playing a couple of games with him for Yorkshire. To learn from him and speak about batting, was really interesting. Playing against him and being on the wrong end of him scoring some runs, you learn from those kinds of innings. You have seen his importance and what he adds to the Indian team, he is going to be a huge wicket for us, no doubt," Root said in the virtual press meet on Thursday (February 4).

India will face England in the first Test at the MA Chidambaram stadium here from Friday (February 5).

So, how can England plot the downfall of Pujara? "There would be times when we would be required to stay patient, and we need to be mentally strong as he is at the crease, we know he is a fantastic player. He has a fantastic record at home, in particular, it is going to be a great challenge to come up against him," said Root.

Root also took confidence from England's recent 2-0 series win over Sri Lanka. "We are getting a huge amount of confidence after winning the two Tests against Sri Lanka. We are realistic about where we are as a team. We know this is going to be a huge challenge for us, we are looking forward to it. It is about concentrating on the right things which we think would be the best for us, this is a great opportunity for this group, we are looking forward to the next four Tests," said Root.

"For us to win this series against India, it is going to take our entire squad coming in together and producing something special together. It would be about managing pressure for long periods of time," he said.

In Sri Lanka, English spinners Jack Leach and Dom Bess had a good series. Root said it has always been good to have options like Leach, Bess and Moeen Ali at his disposal but reminded that a collective effort is needed rather than waiting for one or two individuals to shore up the team.

"I think it is fantastic that all three spinners (Moeen Ali, Dom Bess, and Jack Leach are fit and available for selection, as a whole bowling group, it would be important that we work together, not single out spinners and separate the seamers. Collectively, it would be important that we all play our part, actually, we look at things in partnerships, we look at how as a bowling group, we are going to take 20 wickets in these conditions," said Root.