Haseeb Hamid on Joe Root: He plays like he has so much time

After an impressive test debut in 2016 in India, England’s opener Haseeb Hamid went into the wilderness.

It took him five years to make a comeback for England. But he did make it count at Headingley on Thursday.

Hameed put up a 135-run stand with Rory Burns (61). Interestingly, it was England’s highest opening stand since Alastair Cook and Hameed put on 180 against India in 2016.

Hameed made 68 before Ravindra Jadeja spun one past his bat to hit the off-stump for his first wicket in the series.

Hameed, who is nicknamed as ‘Baby Boycott’ because of his traditional approach, was full of praise for England skipper Joe Root.

“There’s so much you can learn as a young player from Joe Root,” opener Haseeb Hameed told Sky Sports.

“He’s of the highest class but for me, what stands out is the simplicity of his game.

“He plays like he has so much time, he’s so diligent and also the mental side of things, to turn up and perform in every innings shows how hungry he is.”

Hameed, the comeback man
Hameed suffered a bizarre dip in form after his memorable debut in India. He was eventually released by his boyhood county Lancashire in 2018. Hameed averaged 9.7 from 11 innings at one point and experts and coaches in England were scratching their heads about what had gone wrong with the talented batsman.

Hameed’s fortune changed in 2019, when he was roped in by Nottinghamshire. The right-handed opener bounced back with some heavy scores and made his way to the England team.

However, the comeback was not easy at Lord’s in the second Test as he failed to trouble the scorers in the first innings. His feet movement was all at pace and it never looked like the same player who scored a feisty 82 on debut at Rajkot, not too far away from his ancestral home, Umraj, in Gujarat.

England think tank promoted him up the order for the Headingley Test and the 24-year-old grabbed the opportunity with both hands.