If a crisis man has to perform a stuntman’s role, there’s every possibility of things going wrong.

Right through his career so far, Joe Root has had a style of play that’s been more about his elegance, feeding on loose balls even while accumulating ones and twos. Taking refuge in pyrotechnics and trying fancy, cheeky shots have never really been his forte or way of batting.

Bazball did tempt him to tweak his game and it proved to be disastrous in the first three Tests of England’s ongoing tour of India. But on Friday at the JSCA International Stadium, Root went back to his strengths, dismissing the Bazball lure.

Reverse-scoops or shots like those have had no place at all so far in his innings in Ranchi. The only reverse sweep he has played in his 226-ball knock on Day I of this fourth Test came late in the 71st over off Ravichandran Ashwin’s bowling, which fetched him a couple.

A disciplined Root could be much more effective than his Bazball avatar, which England found out on Friday, as it was primarily due to his unbeaten 106 that the visitors reached 302/7 at stumps.

On a pitch that’s slow, not offering much turn and yet is tricky with some of the balls keeping perilously low, England, opting to bat first after winning the toss, would have struggled to reach even 200 if not for Root’s 31st Test hundred. That, after skipper Ben Stokes’ extremely poor application to a pitched-up delivery from Ravindra Jadeja —which kept low as well —had reduced England to 112/5 at lunch.

England’s scoring rate in the opening session though was Bazball-esque, being close to five runs an over. Zak Crawley, after getting a reprieve early in the fourth over when Akash Deep had castled the former only to find out he had overstepped, hammered Mohammed Siraj for three boundaries and a big six to set the ball rolling for his side.

But it didn’t take much time for the England batting order to be rocked as debutant Akash got the ball to move and jag back in, dismissing Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope and again cleaning up Crawley to leave the visitors wobbling at 57/3. Root, too, appeared a tad tentative and was cautious enough when Akash made fine use of the crease to create an angle and trouble the batters.

But unlike in the previous innings, he was much more solid this time around. With Root getting right behind the line of almost every ball and Jonny Bairstow throwing in the counterpunch and trying to regain form, England looked to strike back. Till Bairstow threw it away with a pathetic shot, much to the liking of Ashwin.

Skipper Stokes’ departure in what was the last ball before lunch hinted at yet another England collapse. But Root stood firm.

India captain Rohit Sharma had brought back Siraj and Akash to bowl quite a few overs with the old ball towards the close of play. Both the quicks tried to test Root with reverse swing, but to no avail.

Finding the gaps and placing the ball perfectly, Root brought up his first Test hundred since last June with a brilliant cover drive off Akash. The Root of old.

Crawley, however, thinks Root restrained himself because of the surface. “If the pitch had been truer, I reckon Joe would still have played those shots,” he said. “It might have been the variable bounce which stopped him from sweeping and paddling. The pitch was rather too inconsistent. If it’s a flatter wicket in Dharamsala (for the fifth and final Test), I’d fully expect him to reverse-ramp one. Joe’s always in present when he bats and doesn’t overthink,” Crawley said.

Root proved class players know when to alter their game. Fortunately, he found allies in the form of keeper-batter Ben Foakes (47) and pacer Ollie Robinson, stitching partnerships of 113 and an unbroken 57 for the sixth and eighth wickets, respectively. That has put some pressure back on India.