Southampton: English captain Joe Root thinks that the current group of players have the potential to become the number one Test team in the world as he urged his teammates to finish their home summer with a win against Pakistan in the third Test at the Rose Bowl.
The final Test of the series is slated to start from today. The hosts are leading the series 1-0. Root says that there is still a job to do to complete the series win.
“We know we are not the finished article, we know we have challenges and hurdles to overcome, and things we need to get better at if we want to be the number one team in the world,” Root told reporters on Thursday.
“But I can certainly see this group of players going on to do that. We have got a great group of bowlers now that we feel cover a number of different surfaces and challenges wherever we go in the world. That is an exciting place to be,” he added.
England have been less impressive with the bat, passing 320 only twice in the previous five Tests. Skipper believes that batters have to step up now.
“With the competition that is there, people have to keep proving their worth in the team. That is not just the bowlers, but the batters as well. We need to make sure we are driving the standards up all the time,” he maintained.
Root looked undecided about the playing XI as they will only decide on the morning of the Test. “We have not settled on an XI yet, it is so hard to tell with that wicket right now. It has been mostly undercover for the last week, and with the sun finally out and a bit of wind, it could change drastically over the course of today,” he maintained.
