ENG vs IND | Joe Root backs Dawid Malan and Saqib Mahmood to shine under pressure

Yorkshire man Dawid Malan was called to replace Dom Sibley in the third Test of ongoing England vs India five-match Test series. England captain Joe Root has shown confidence in the selection saying that the experience of Malan in under pressure situation would help the team.

"Dawid would obviously offer us a lot of experience in that top three. Not necessarily… in Test cricket but he has played a huge amount of international cricket now and dealt with pressure situations,” Root said in the pre-match press conference at Headingley, Leeds. 

Sibley was removed from the squad after poor performances in back-to-back four Tests, two in this series and two against New Zealand. Although Malan has a modest average of around 27 in Tests, Root has backed him to do well seeing his pedigree of delivering under pressure. 

"He's played a lot of red-ball cricket over the course of his career and he's also had great success. He's played in a massive series in Australia away (2017 Ashes, where Malan also scored a hundred at Perth) and been our leading run-scorer out there, so we know that he's capable of big things in Test match cricket,” said Root, who is also a Yorkshire compatriot of Malan. 

The 33-year-old left-hander has a First-Class average of nearly 40 across 192 games and more than 11,000 runs playing in England and South Africa. His recent 199 vs Sussex in County Championship in the only long format game he played this season, brought him into consideration for the role at number three. 

"He's coming off the back - it's only one score in County Championship cricket but it's a big one (199 for Yorkshire vs Sussex) as well as some brilliant scores in high-pressure cricket in the shorter format too,” said the English skipper about Malan. 

Wood being ruled out from the third Test means that Saqib Mahmood is primed for a Test debut and Root has all his beliefs intact in him that the Lancashire man will exceed all expectations. 

"I feel like Saqib couldn't be in a better place to potentially play Test cricket. You look at how he's progressed over the last couple of years, across all the formats. The opportunities he's taken this year, when he's been given them, he's been exceptional,” said Root. 

The words of the captain have weight in them as the right-arm quick picked up 23 wickets in six games at 21 runs per wicket. After getting his chance in the limited-overs series against Pakistan, he was excellent with the ball and thus him getting the chance over Craig Overton shouldn’t be a big surprise. 

"It just shows how far he's come and it's great to see that strength in depth and him developing as he has done over a period of time now,” Root said about Saqib Mahmood. 

The third Test begins from August 25 in Leeds with India leading the series 1-0 so far.