IND vs ENG: 'We'll carry huge confidence,' says Joe Root

England players celebrate after dismissing a Sri Lankan batsman on Day Four of the second Test at Galle yesterday. Pic/Sri Lanka Cricket

Skipper Joe Root on Monday said England will take "confidence" from their 2-0 Test sweep in Sri Lanka to challenge World No. 1 India on their own patch.
England beat Sri Lanka by six wickets in a tight second Test in Galle with Dom Sibley and Jos Buttler guiding the team's chase of 164 in the extended final session on Day Four.

Spinners Jack Leach and Dom Bess played a key part with four wickets each to skittle out Sri Lanka for 126 in their second innings. Root, who led by example with match-winning knocks of 228 and 186 in the first and second matches respectively, said the team looks in good shape ahead of the four-Test series in India that starts in Chennai on February 5.

"We've got four very important games against arguably the best team in the world in their own conditions," Root said. "We'll have to play right at the top of our game to win out there but we couldn't be in a better place to go and challenge them."

The England team face a period of quarantine upon entry to India ahead of the series, but Root said the measures had not fazed the squad. "We're gonna have seven or eight days with no cricket, six days in quarantine and then three very important days of prep ahead of the series," he said. "But what we have got is a huge amount of confidence coming out of these two games." The win was England's second successive Test whitewash in Sri Lanka.

Stokes arrives in India, enters quarantine

England's star all-rounder Ben Stokes has arrived in Chennai and is undergoing quarantine at a city hotel ahead of the upcoming four-match Test series against India. The big-ticket series starts here on February 5 and the team's training is scheduled to commence from February 2. "Day 1 quarantine, I have done a fair bit of quarantine, have to try to make my bed every day, not the best job, but have to do it. So that's basically me for the next five days," Stokes posted in one of his Instagram stories.

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