The Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy from Friday will have one member of the ‘Fab Four’ — now that Virat Kohli is retired — in Joe Root in the fray. The rock of England's batting line-up, the highest run-getter in Tests among active players with 13,006 of them, is perfectly aware of how much the hosts depend on him for the India series as well as in Australia later this year.

‘’Ben (Stokes) did so much for me as my vice-captain, now it’s my turn to give a bit back to him,’’ said the 34-year-old, who has settled down firmly as England's premier Test batter after being relieved of captaincy in 2022. The diminutive Yorkshireman, watching whom at work is a sight for sore eyes, claims to have more ‘fun’ now and it shows in the fact that he has accumulated 3.117 runs in 36 Tests over a period of three years during this phase. The average during this phase: a handsome 56.67.

Now fifth on the all-time Test run-getters' list, with Sachin Tendulkar still perched at the top (15,921), Root has a realistic chance of overhauling Ricky Ponting in second position as he is just 372 runs behind the Australian great. Given his patience and big-innings temperament, one can bet on him to hold fort against an inexperienced Indian attack as well as keep his date with his first Test century on Australian soil later this year.

Opening up to Sky Sports commentator and former teammate Stuart Broad in an interview, Root — who held his own even during a 4-1 series defeat in India last year — said: ‘’You know The Ashes is coming and you will be asked about it. People will be trying to relate stuff in the India series to that but you have a job to do against a brilliant team.

‘’You look at India’s progression as a team across all formats and they have all bases covered — great seam attack, talented batters and a very strong spin attack. They are going to compete anywhere in the world but our record at home makes for a fantastic series. We will go into it with confidence but also with a huge amount of respect for what they will bring.’’

Looking back, the history of cricket is replete with examples of extraordinary batters failing to deliver as captains, and Root possibly falls in that category. During a six-year tenure starting in 2017, his record as captain says 27 wins, 26 defeats and 11 draws in 64 matches, with the last phase during Covid being particularly tough. England just managed one win in his last 17 Tests as skipper, which included a 4-0 rout in Australia, followed by a 1-0 loss in the West Indies.

A losing streak such as this doesn’t help a captain hold the dressing room together, and the so called 'Bazball' era kicked in soon after under Stokes and new coach Brendon McCullum. Reflecting on this rather forgettable phase of his career, a candid Root admitted that it felt a bit ‘weird’ to reintegrate himself in the side under a new captain.   

‘’It was difficult and weird coming back into the team after being leader. I didn’t want to get in Ben’s way or step on his toes but I wanted him to know I was there to support him. I knew a big part of that was scoring runs. I wanted to make sure I could affect games with the bat and clearly if I was following his lead as a former captain, it sends a strong message to anyone coming into the team or not as established as myself.

Summing up the last three years, during which Root also made a comeback into the ODI team, he says: ‘’It has become the most fun time of my career. Playing the way we play, the environment that has been created. The job Ben and [head coach] Brendon [McCullum] have done has been fabulous and so much fun has come with it.

‘’It might not always get reported how it actually is — I don’t think Bazball is the right way to describe it. It has clearly been a big change and is different to how a lot of teams play but there is a lot more method to it than is probably perceived.’’

TOP FIVE IN TESTS

Sachin Tendulkar (India) — 15,921 runs

Ricky Ponting (Australia) — 13,378 runs

Jacques Kallis (South Africa) — 13,289 runs

Rahul Dravid (India) — 13,288 runs

Joe Root (England) — 13,006 runs