The fifth Test between India and England, starting Thursday at the picturesque Himachal town of Dharamsala, will mark a century of Test appearances from either side -- with Ashwin becoming the 14th Indian and Jonny Bairstow, the 17th Englishman to don 100 Test caps.
While Bairstow has managed only 102 runs in six innings, Root’s bat has produced a mere 77 runs from the three Tests so far, begging questions on the duo’s place in the side for the fourth Test.
Importantly, though, it was only England's third defeat of the Bazball regime, which meant that you couldn’t really dip your pain in acid and write disdainfully of Brendon McCullum, the coach who preaches hyper-aggressive Test cricket or Ben Stokes, the captain who made himself conspicuous with his rash first-day declaration.
Root's unbeaten 118 not out, his 30th century in Test cricket, was the stand-out contribution on a surface that offered little for the bowlers
We'll move on to the next test match, and go out there and try to win," the all-rounder added.
Both Broad and bowling partner James Anderson were dropped from the Caribbean tour after England's dismal performance in the Ashes in Australia, which the Root-led side lost 0-4.
Stokes plans to bat himself at six and is hoping that prospective players that harbour aspirations of batting in England's recently frail top and middle-order will give him plenty to ponder by scoring a bulk of runs at the county level ahead of the first Test of the summer against the Kiwis at Lord's on June 2.
The two ageing warhorses were strangely left out of England's three-Test tour of the Caribbean earlier this year, with selectors instead opting to give more opportunities to the next generation of seam bowlers.
He succeeds right-handed batter Joe Root, who resigned from the role in April this year, in becoming the 81st captain of the England men's Test team.
A report in iNews said that England men's cricket's new managing director, Rob Key had travelled to Durham for a "face-to-face" meeting with Stokes to "discuss the role", and that the 30-year-old all-rounder could be officially unveiled as England's new Test skipper "in the next 48 hours".
