14 October - Delhi - England player Joe Root pre-match press conference
[Reporter:]
I don't know if you're in a position to give us a health and fitness update on various people, we know Woakes was missing yesterday and obviously Ben's ongoing.
[Joe Root:]
Yeah, Woakes on the bus today which is a great sign so I'm sure he'll enjoy training, seeing where he's at, and Ben seems to be getting better day on day. He trained really well last night, obviously had a long bat, did his running, seems to be improving, so all good signs ahead of tomorrow.
[Reporter:]
You're an experienced captain in international cricket. Can you put yourself in that decision-making place and explain what the pros and cons are of getting Ben out on the field versus wrapping him in a bit of cotton wool for the back end?
[Joe Root:]
I think he's just got to be ready to play.
Thankfully I'm not in that position anymore. As we all know, we have a team with Ben in it, it's a lot stronger. But he's got to be fit to play and we'll see whether that's the case for tomorrow, whether it's the next game or further down the line.
[Reporter:]
Can you sum up the challenge of Afghanistan different to the two teams you've played already and what kind of different questions they might ask you as a team?
[Joe Root:]
Yeah, I think every team in this tournament poses slightly different threats and you've just got to be ready and adaptable to be able to combat that. I think they've obviously got some world-class players; we've seen that on the domestic stage for a long time now and obviously internationally as well as the team.
So, from our point of view, we've just got to look to keep getting better.
I think we weren't where we wanted to be in the first game. We were considerably better in the last game against Bangladesh and this is another opportunity for us to take another stride forward and keep building that momentum and that progression towards the business end of this tournament and making sure that we are where we need to be by the back end of it
[Reporter:]
And just on your own form if we rewind, I don't know a month you were trying to get a hit at Headingly to find a little bit of rhythm doesn't look like you've got any issues with rhythm at the moment.
[Joe Root:]
No, I've felt like I do enjoy playing cricket here in India, I think it suits my game quite nicely and I did find that New Zealand series quite strange one you sort of trying to find yourself trying of getting yourself in a position where you're in a good place.
Of trying to find something to come to the World Cup with and I think when you get here and you're in that tournament mentality of this is what it's about, this is when you need to stand up and deliver, I think it's a different frame of mind and I think that really helped me coming out here and you've got a real purpose to what you're doing.
So, it's been nice to contribute in the first couple of games. It was nice, especially in the last game with us winning so convincingly. And hopefully, you know, carry that forward, not just individually, but collectively as a group, keep looking to grow and gain that confidence and take it into the next game each time.
[Reporter:]
Obviously, Afghanistan, a real kind of, I guess, banana skin if you want to use a cliche. How determined are you guys not to be on the wrong end of a shock result tomorrow?
[Joe Root:]
I don't think we want to look at what could go wrong. I think we've got to look at what we can do right and how we can affect the game in the right manner. That's how we'll prepare today. I think everyone knows what their job is and their role is.
It's a very experienced group. So, it'll be about going and delivering that and adapting to what's right in front of us when we get out there.
[Reporter:]
And in terms of you being a batter, how big a challenge is Rashid Khan to face?
[Joe Root:]
Yeah, I think the whole attack poses a number of different threats, so it's just making sure that you're ready for it. You read what's in front of you, you play the surface and you play the game that's mapped out for you, whether it's setting or chasing, generally you've got a good idea of what you think a score's going to be after a while out there. And when you're chasing, it's mapped out for you on the board what you need to do, so go and deliver on that and making sure that you outplay your opponents.
[Reporter:]
Afghanistan have very good spinners in Rashid Khan and Mujibur Rahman. So how is the England team training to face the Spinners?
[Joe Root:]
I think more than anything we make sure that we face what we need to and we concentrate on ourselves more than anything. I think that's the key. We all know our game is against Spinners. Making sure that when we get out there, we're confident in what our boundary options are going to be, how we're going to rotate, strike and build those big partnerships. I don't think that changes, it comes back to the basics of the game.
Doing them for long periods of time, playing the ball, not the man, all those clichés that seem to come out when you're talking about high pressure games.
So, it's just about doing that time and time again and making sure that you're doing it consistently well for a period of time so you stay on top.