India v England: Joe Root rules Ranchi to show his and England's adaptability

There are only a handful of people qualified to tell Joe Root how to bat.

At some point soon he will surpass Sir Alastair Cook as England's greatest Test run-scorer. He might even challenge India great Sachin Tendulkar as the most prolific the game has seen.

A journey that began in India 12 years ago has seen Root be a constant and reassuring presence in the England line-up. He has missed only two Tests out of England's past 141.

His position under the captaincy of Ben Stokes is a curious one. Firstly, a similar group of players that tanked in the final days of Root's reign have largely thrived under Stokes. No matter how good a person you are - and a nicer man than Root you could not wish to meet - that must smart just a little.

More importantly, Root has had to find a comfortable way to score runs in the Stokes era. Whereas most have thrived with the freedom and encouragement to dash, Root was the player with the least room for improvement at the time the captaincy changed hands. Root's form was stratospheric, even as the team fell apart around him.

Root admitted even he did not know his place in the Bazball universe.

"I've just got to find out what sits best for me and that's going to take some time," he said in New Zealand last year.

"If I'm being brutally honest there was the initial relief of coming out of the captaincy and now I'm just trying to find out what my role is within this team."

This is allied to Root's repeatedly stated desire to repay Stokes for everything the all-rounder did under his leadership. A team man right down to his bone marrow, Root has wholeheartedly embraced the Stokes ethos.

But Root found himself in his most sustained slump since giving away the armband. Six innings without a half-century was his longest lean spell in two years.

He has had a lot going on during this tour of India. At the end of three Tests Root had bowled more overs than he had scored runs. He dropped a crucial catch in the third Test, where he was also irritable about India's running on the pitch and at one stage had a moan at Spidercam.

The lack of runs was one thing, the way he wasn't getting them was another. He has had his technique dissected by Jasprit Bumrah and, possibly affected by a hand injury, played a wild swipe at Ravichandran Ashwin in the second innings of the second Test.

The moment of national crisis came with the failed reverse-scoop at Bumrah in the third Test, a dismissal that poured petrol on to the Bazball debate. Was a method that had done so much for England's results and certain players in their team coming at the expense of their greatest asset?

If Root was aware of the collective concern, he gave little away. Those close to the England team said there were no signs of stress or anxiety in the build-up to the fourth Test in Ranchi.

And when England needed Root at his most Rootian, he painted a masterpiece. Ollie Pope and Ben Duckett may have made scintillating centuries on this tour, but for technical mastery of the most trying conditions, none can match the unbeaten 106 of Root on Friday's opening day.

Maybe it was the absence of the rested Bumrah, perhaps the luck of a new batting helmet. It could be that Root is a supreme craftsman, capable of delivering when the stakes are highest and the conditions at their most mischievous.

It was an innings that proved both Root and England can adapt to the situation in front of them. After a first morning with enough action to fill a movie trilogy, Root peeled off a classic.

At 112-5, England were in danger of being overwhelmed on a pitch that resembled a dried-up riverbed. Akash Deep, on debut, hit stumps and bodies, took edges and pinned pads. Ben Stokes was lbw to a Ravindra Jadeja mullygrubber.

This was no time for scooping, reverse or otherwise. Instead Root becalmed the situation with flawless defence, perfect judgement and endless determination.

All variations of sweeps and scoops, to whichever kind of bowling, were put away. In the first three Tests, Root played a sweep or scoop at more than 11% of the balls he faced, scoring 24 runs and being dismissed three times. On Friday, he played only three in his 226-ball stay, with the first attempt not until his 103rd delivery of the day.

Root barely played a shot in front of square on the off side. His scoring came with deft touches to third man or tucks off the pads. His first boundary through the covers did not arrive until his 126th ball.

His ally was Ben Foakes, perhaps the one other player in the England XI less suited to Bazballing. If Root is the drummer tapping out the beat in the England band, Foakes is the roadie, doing the hardest work for the least praise, but impossible to put on a show without.

Their partnership of 113 was the slowest England century stand under Stokes and McCullum. The 86 runs at 2.33 an over added between lunch and tea England's most sedate session in the same two-year period.

When Root finally reached his 31st Test hundred, with a cover drive off Deep from his 219th ball, it became the slowest century in terms of deliveries faced by the Bazballers. Root's celebrations were subdued. Maybe he was fed up after the flak he has taken, or maybe he was just shattered.

Root's achievement, on top of the century, was to silence his critics while at the same doing exactly what they had been asking him to do. In struggle and success, he was the personification of England's lurch from inflexibility to adaptability.

Not for the first time, England have distilled their method when the need was at its greatest: turning around a 1-0 deficit against South Africa, coming from a self-inflicted 2-0 down against Australia to draw the Ashes, now potentially levelling at 2-2 to set up a decider in India.

For some reason, England need a regular kick up the backside in order to recalibrate. They are the team that knows a late cup of coffee will keep them up all night, or that the speed camera is on the same bend every morning. The next step in their development is not falling into the trap.

As for Root, tolerance is paramount when his next slump arrives. There are few qualified to tell him how to bat.