India v England: Yorkshire CCC's Joe Root reverts to glorious type with masterly century - Chris Waters

Not that you ever really went away.

It’s just that when you bat like you did in Ranchi on Friday, all seems well with the cricketing world.

England look a better, more durable side, one able to withstand different pressures and challenges.

There was no reverse ramping from the Yorkshireman this time, no careless dismissal inviting disparagement.

One national newspaper described Root’s stroke during the first innings of the third Test in Rajkot, when he reverse ramped the fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah to second slip, as “the worst, most stupid shot in the history of England’s Test cricket”.

It was quite a claim, given that one would have had to see all the others played in the 147-year history of the format to be absolutely sure, but it emphasised the strength of feeling engendered.

When Root messed up, England were 224-2 in reply to India’s 445 and seemingly well placed to perhaps forge a lead.

Instead, they crumbled to 319 all-out and eventually to defeat by 434 runs – their second-heaviest by a runs margin since Test cricket began.

Going into this game, with England 2-1 down in the five-match rubber, Root’s series scores looked like a line of lottery numbers: 29, 2, 5, 16, 18, 7.

They were losing ones, as well, and meagre pickings for an all-time great, a man who scored more runs here than the 77 amassed during that dirty half-dozen.

This was Root reverting to glorious type, the one who played the pitch and the situation to steer England to 302-7.

He finished on 106 from 226 balls with nine fours; it was the slowest century of the Bazball era.

Before the match, Ben Stokes, the England captain, said he had never seen a pitch quite like the one at the Ranchi ground – “very dark and crumbly and with quite a few cracks in it”.

That being so, and with no one quite knowing how it would play, it was no surprise when Stokes chose to bat after winning the toss, with the surface only expected to deteriorate against a side with the spin bowling resources to maximise such wear.

At first, it seemed as though a quick game might be in the offing, and that pace might prove as effective, too.

Akash Deep, the 27-year-old debutant, reduced England from 47-0 to 57-3 after the hosts chose to rest Bumrah, the leading wicket-taker in the series with 17, including Root three times.

Bumrah, 30, is another of those modern players who seems to be fit for everything apart from actually playing cricket.

In fairness, some reports suggested that he wanted to play only for the workload management police to decree otherwise.

Whether India regret going for the kill, as it were, and an unassailable 3-1 lead remains to be seen. Perhaps the move had a hint of hubris.

Deep, to his credit, bowled some good stuff, having Ben Duckett edging a delivery that nipped away, Ollie Pope lbw on review to one that came in, and Zak Crawley beaten through the gate.

Deep should have had Crawley early on when he bowled him with a no-ball, with some variable bounce and movement on offer.

Jonny Bairstow struck a breezy 38 from 35 balls before falling lbw on review sweeping at Ravichandran Ashwin, and there was nothing Stokes could do in the last over before lunch when a ball from Ravindra Jadeja shot through at shoelace height and trapped him in front, leaving England 112-5.

Root, meanwhile, had brought a change of method, one that basically eschewed risk, such as playing the sweep, a hazardous proposition.

With great determination, he instead relied on straight drives, cuts, dabs and so on as England enjoyed a wicketless afternoon to reach 198-5.

Root needed an accomplice and found one in Ben Foakes, a player ideally suited to a challenging situation.

They shared a stand of 113 largely by playing sensibly, although Foakes had just started to open his shoulders with a flurry of boundaries off Ashwin when he clipped Mohammad Siraj to mid-wicket, three shy of fifty.

Siraj bagged a second scalp when Tom Hartley was undone by a fine ball that shaped away and splayed the off stump, but Root and Ollie Robinson (Yorkshire present and past) shared an unbroken 57 in 14.3 overs, the latter no mug and with a first-class century to his name.

Root’s 43rd came up from 219 balls and was celebrated with a quiet kiss of the helmet after he off-drove Deep for his ninth boundary.

Thirty-one of those 43 hundreds have come at Test level - emphasising how little first-class cricket is played by the leading players at county level – including 10 against India, a record in Tests.

The best always rise to the occasion, of course, particularly after criticism/dips in performance.

This was a classical Test innings by a master at work, one which every England supporter will hope is the turning point in a series that had looked to be slipping away.