Joe Root Defends England Against Pakistan's 'No Fight' Claims

Joe Root walked into his pre-match press conference with a series already wrapped up and a brittle Pakistan side on the ropes. What he did not accept was the idea that England had been up against a soft touch.

On the eve of the third Test at Edgbaston, Root firmly rejected the suggestion that Pakistan had shown “no fight” in a campaign dominated by England’s quicks.

“Absolutely we have found Pakistan a challenge,” the England captain said, pushing back when asked what it was like facing a team supposedly offering nothing in return. “I think that's a bit disrespectful to both Pakistan as a team and to us as a team.”

England have crushed Pakistan in the opening two Tests: an innings-and-103-run hammering at Headingley followed by a 194-run victory at Lord’s. The numbers are brutal. Across four innings, Pakistan have not once reached 200, repeatedly dismantled by the pace battery of Ollie Robinson, Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson.

From the outside, it has looked like a mismatch. Root sees something else.

“I don't think we've allowed them to get into games because of how well we've played,” he said, pointing to England’s sharp reading of conditions. “How quickly we've read the situations and the surfaces that we've had.”

Pakistan arrive in Birmingham in a state of upheaval. After the Lord’s defeat, the Pakistan Cricket Board sent seven players home, removed Test coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and drafted in white-ball coach Mike Hesson to lead the side for the series finale. Seven players have been added to the squad, five of them uncapped at Test level.

It is a radical reset, the kind that usually screams crisis. The team has already been branded one of Pakistan’s weakest Test line-ups in decades.

Root is having none of that either.

“I think it's very easy to say one team is excellent and one team is poor. Normally it's somewhere in the middle,” he said. England’s skipper stressed that performances should not be judged in such extremes, insisting his own side’s control of the first two Tests has distorted the narrative.

“If one team has been outstanding then the other team can't have been poor and vice-versa,” he added. “I think it's important to live in that middle area somewhere and understand that that's not how it is.”

The message to his dressing room is clear: respect the opposition, respect the contest, and don’t believe the noise.

“Regardless of what's happened over the last two games, this week it's a completely different proposition for us,” Root said. The warning is deliberate. A dead rubber on paper can quickly turn awkward if complacency creeps in, especially against a side with fresh faces desperate to seize a rare chance.

“There’s a very talented group of players in that dressing room and you've got to be ready for it,” Root said of Pakistan. “So we'll make sure that we are.”

Series won, momentum theirs, England stand one match away from a clean sweep. Root, though, is preparing for a fight that many outside Edgbaston have already written off.