England batter Joe Root was full of praise for fellow Yorkshireman Harry Brook following their 195-run partnership and the youngster's explosive counter-attacking ton, hailing his "consistency" and pointing out that he is not a "one-off fluke".
Brook's explosive 111 in 98 balls, along with a classic Root century, dashed India's hopes of an easy win while defending a massive 374, as the action heads to the final day, with 35 runs and three/four wickets (depending on Chris Woakes' availability to bat), still up for grabs for an English series win or a series draw.
"We have both got very contrasting games, but I think that works well in our favour. He plays slightly more expansively than I do and has a fantastic array of shots, but what I admire most is the amount of pressure he puts back on the opposition, the way he takes calculated risks at the right moments, and how he can open a game completely up, as he did today, it is great," Root said at the post-day press conference on Sunday.
Root said that it is amazing being a "second fiddle" to Brook and watching his fine shotmaking from the "best seat in the house".
"He is an incredible talent and it is not like he is a one-off fluke. He has got 10 hundreds playing in a very similar manner. He is incredibly consistent at it and there is definitely a huge amount of method behind what he does. The impact that it has had on this test match is why we are sitting here only needing 35 to win. It has been an incredible knock," he added.
Speaking about his frustration about getting out to Prasidh Krishna, with whom he had a heated exchange during the first innings, Root said that his frustration had more to do with not being able to finish the game and it was not because of what transpired earlier between two.
"Prasidh is a proven performer. He is a brilliant player. You do not play for India as a seamer without having a huge amount of talent, and clearly he is going to do great things in the game, but it was not anything between the two of us that brought that on," he said.
"That was more frustration from my part for not getting us over the line. That is what you pride yourself on as a player, as an experienced batter in that situation. You have got to be able to absorb pressure and understand that they are allowed to bowl well for periods, and then when you get your opportunities to counter that, then you take them, and I just mis-executed on that occasion."
"When you are 100 not out, you do not expect that from yourself, so that is where the frustration came from. There was no overhang from what happened in the first innings or anything like that," he concluded.