Joe Root praises Adil Rashid's 'ball of the 21st century'

Dejan Kalinic

•
Joe Root praises Adil Rashid's 'ball of the 21st century' image

England captain Joe Root praised Adil Rashid's "brilliant delivery" to remove KL Rahul during the final day of his side's fifth Test win over India.

Rashid drew comparisons to Australia great Shane Warne after producing an incredible ball to bowl Rahul during England's 118-run victory.

The leg-spinner's delivery turned sharply out of the rough and clipped Rahul's off-stump and it was quickly labelled the 'ball of the 21st century', a comparison to Warne's famous wicket of Mike Gatting in 1993.

Root, whose team completed a 4-1 series win over India, said he knew Rashid was capable of such magic.

MORE: How Glenn Maxwell bizarrely learned of Australian Test squad snub |

"It was a brilliant delivery," he said.

Root added: "'Rash' has that in him and that's why we have him in our side because he has the ability to change games and turn situations like that on their head.

"Thankfully he got us in a position where we could go and win the game."

Rashid (2-63) finished with the wickets of India's two second-innings centurions in Rahul (149) and Rishabh Pant (114) as the tourists were bowled out for 345.

The match undoubtedly belonged to the retiring Alastair Cook – who made a second-innings century – and James Anderson after the seamer broke the record for most Test wickets by a paceman with his 564th.

Anderson – who now trails only Muttiah Muralitharan (800), Warne (708) and Anil Kumble (619) for most Test wickets – turned 36 in July, but Root believes the veteran can still deliver for England.

"I think the most important thing is that we do everything we can to prolong his career and give him opportunities to really chase those guys down and keep winning Test matches for England which is what he's played a huge part in, in this series and so many before," Root said.

"But hopefully there's still going to be a number of series in the future where he is leading the attack and terrorising the batters."

Dejan Kalinic