The biggest thing [about this Test match] was Joe Root

Joe Root began his second stint as full-time England Test captain in emphatic fashion, defeating Pakistan by an innings and 103 runs in the opening match of the series and earning crucial ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27 points on Friday. Root played a crucial role in the win, with a half-century in England’s only innings, tying with Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar for most fifties in Tests, with 68 each. Former England captain Nasser Hussain hailed skipper Joe Root’s return to captaincy with a memorable win over Pakistan in the Leeds Test, saying that he did not try to be like the previous skipper, Ben Stokes, and England showed a lot more maturity in their performance.

Joe Root began his second stint as full-time England Test captain in emphatic fashion, defeating Pakistan by an innings and 103 runs in the opening match of the series and earning crucial ICC World Test Championship.

Because of no Ben Stokes – and we will come on to that – but it was also the toss decision, and then the way he batted, and then the way he captained in the field,” he said, i know some of that was enforced. Hussain compared the performance with Root’s performance during the second New Zealand Test, where Stokes could not play after being ruled out due to a breach of team protocols, and Root stepped in as captain.

Speaking after the win, Hussain said, as quoted by Sky Sports, that Root had “three really good days” as a captain. If you had just come down and seen Joe this week, these three days, albeit against a poor Pakistan side, you will say he had a really good three days as captain,” he said. The former skipper also said that not having a frontline spinner also worked out and the team had a great balance and Root had a “smile on his face”. The former skipper said that Root looked “bit dishevelled by the end of that” and was great against Pakistan.

“The biggest thing [about this Test match] was Joe Root. “The decision with the balance of the side [worked out], electing not to have a frontline spinner. He also highlighted the team’s approach under Root, as compared to Stokes, who had been criticised for lack of attention to detail, saying that England showed maturity alongside vice-captain Harry Brook in their win. He also spoke about how the batting was not all about ‘Bazball, and that is the only way we play,’ and it maintained a great tempo.