Joe Root warns England after India first Test win: "We can't be happy with what we've done"

NICK HOWSON: Despite leading the team to one of the great away successes in Chennai, the captain insists the tourists cannot be content with a 1-0 series lead

India v England: 1st Test scorecard

Why India v England is on Channel 4

England captain Joe Root insists his side have achieved nothing yet despite claiming one of their finest away Tests win over India in Chennai.

Victory by 227 runs put the tourists 1-0 ahead in the four-Test series.

It was India's first home defeat in four years and second loss in the last 37 on their own patch.

From Root's double century to England's first innings 578, Dom Bess and Jack Leach's impressive hauls to James Anderson's reverse-swing masterclass, it was as dominant a display as you wish to see from a visiting Test team.

And with Stuart Broad, Ben Foakes, Zak Crawley and Moeen Ali all in reserve, it is entirely possible that the level of performance could grow.

England’s last 11 Tests under Joe Root's captaincy:

WIN
WIN
WIN
WIN
WIN
WIN
DRAW
DRAW
WIN
WIN
WIN#INDvENG pic.twitter.com/HopUFnMUb5

— The Cricketer (@TheCricketerMag) February 9, 2021

India's powers of recovery know no bounds, having bounced back from defeat in Adelaide to beat Australia earlier this winter without many of their star players.

They also recovered from that last home Test defeat to Australia in 2017, to win the series 2-1.

"I don't think it changes a huge amount, we still come into the next game with the same desire to win and try and learn the lessons from the previous game," said Root on taking a lead into the second Test, which will be played in front of a 50 per cent capacity crowd back in Chennai.

"The great thing for us is we're ahead in the series right now and we've got to take that confidence forward. But we can't be happy with what we've done, we have to keep getting better.

"We've got to keep finding ways of improving all the time. We're a young side and we have to keep looking to get better and striving for improvement. 

"If we keep doing that we'll keep pushing ourselves forward as a team and challenging the best teams in the world in their own conditions."

^{Jack Leach recovered from a first innings battering to inspire England on day five}

Root believes this version of England are far from the finished article. The Yorkshireman still spotted gaps in their game, particularly in their second innings when they came under criticism for batting too long and slowly.

"Look at the second innings with the bat, we could have gone about things slightly differently and a bit smarter with how we scored our runs once we got to 400," added Root, whose side were bowled out for 178 and set a world record 420 to win in 103 overs. 

"Could we have pressed the accelerator sooner? We weren't clear about our boundary options when the pitch did get very extreme and started spinning.

"With the ball, we can probably contain a little bit better. These are world-class players, some of the best players of spin we will come across and they counter us very well. 

"Can we squeeze the game a little bit longer? Can we build pressure in a different way when it is not spinning as much? They are small things we need to keep improving. They are small things because we did so many good things this week."

Images courtesy of BCCI