At the end of another day in which England went toe-to-toe with Pakistan, Joe Root was shaping as pivotal batsman in this match

Andrew McGlashan in Dubai23-Oct-2015Joe Root was given hefty praise before the second Test began. In the midst of a press conference in the build-up to the match, Moeen Ali casually slipped in his assertion that Root “is probably the best player of spin in the world”.After the second day’s play in Dubai, which finished with Root unbeaten on 76 in which he combated a combination of Yasir Shah, Zulfiqar Babar and Shoaib Malik, Stuart Broad added his own praise: “He’s as good a player of spin as an Englishmen that I’ve played with.”At the end of another day in which England went toe-to-toe with Pakistan – they have not clearly ‘lost’ any of the seven in the series to date – Root was shaping as pivotal man in this encounter and, with it, England’s best chance of heading to Sharjah with the series lead that their efforts so far would warrant.Currently, Root is the No. 2-ranked batsman in Test cricket, having jostled with Steven Smith for the spot during the Ashes. Root claimed it with his hundred at Trent Bridge, but Smith gained it back with his match-winning effort at The Oval where Root failed twice. You would imagine, with Smith’s Test season in Australia having not yet begun and South Africa’s series in India still a couple of weeks away (AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla are ranked three and four), Root will reclaim the spot during this series. He should be vying for it for another decade yet.As in the first Test, Root spent considerable time in this innings batting alongside Alastair Cook. Whatever records Cook leaves behind at the end of his prolific career, Root will be pushing to break them. In Abu Dhabi he comfortably out-scored Cook in their 165-run partnership – 85 runs to Cook’s 54 – and although Cook provided marginally more in today’s 113-run stand there was, as is almost always the case when Root walks in, a sense of urgency.Since his return to the Test side, after briefly being dropped at the end of the 2013-14 Ashes, he has been prolific in the middle order, but alongside the volume of runs he has scored the tempo has been equally important. Since that Ashes series his strike-rate has ballooned from 39.69 to 63.38.Joe Root casts a shadow over Pakistan’s bowlers in Dubai•Gareth Copley/Getty ImagesIt is worth noting, though, that the lower figure included his debut innings in Nagpur, a vital 73 off 229 balls, which helped England secure their historic 2012-13 series win in India. On that tour, Andy Flower had been so impressed with what he saw of Root in practice, he had wanted to play him from the start of the series. But whereas, there, it was defence first, attack second, now his game has switched emphasis.”From a bowler’s point of view you can feel quite relaxed when he’s out there batting, he doesn’t look like he’s panic-sweeping and dancing because he’s not sure what to do,” Broad said. “Last time we were here it was like tossing a coin to see which shot we would play. I think Joe has brought a lot of calmness to the batting unit which the young guys can feed off.”Yet still, among those young guys he remains one of the youngest. “He’s got an old head on young shoulders,” Broad said, as he recalled Flower’s opinion of Root on that India tour: “Just on first viewing, ‘this bloke is that good’.”He has often done it the hard way, too. Earlier this year it became a regular occurrence that Root would walk in with England three-down with 50 or fewer runs on the board: he would invariably respond with a counterattack. Midway through the Ashes, that scenario was taken out of Root’s hands when Gary Ballance was dropped and a batting reshuffle took place, with Ian Bell and Root each moving up to three and four respectively.The use of a nightwatchman in Abu Dhabi last week meant Root returned to the fray at three-down once again, although 285 for 3 represented a position of rare comfort compared to what he was previously used. In Dubai, the scoreline had reverted a little more to type as England wobbled on 14 for 2 against some impressive, hostile new-ball bowling from Imran Khan and Wahab Riaz. One bad innings, and the impressive work from England in the first Test could have been wiped away.It was a demanding start for Root against the fired-up Wahab. He was kept scoreless for 10 deliveries, his first boundary was an instinctive hook of which he was not in control, and he also took a blow to the chest as he dropped his hands on another fierce lifter. But when pace gave way to spin, Root started to ease into his work, picking off any error in line or length with drives, flicks and sweeps.After his first 10 deliveries for nothing he collected 44 off the next 48, but was then tied down for a period, requiring a further 27 balls to reach his fifty. However, there is a maturity as well as an impishness to his batting. His duel with the excitable Yasir was absorbing; his desire to score always kept the legspinner in the game. It was a contest that promised much for the third day. The series could be decided by it.There are enough signs that this will not be a draw – there is already significant spin and more bounce than Abu Dhabi – so England will need a strong lead to avoid chasing much in the fourth innings, and that remains a long way off. With a youthful middle order still unproven against spin, although Jonny Bairstow showed promising signs of development on the second evening, Root – dodgy back and all – is carrying a hefty burden now that Cook was been extracted from the crease.If Root is able to give England the advantage that propels them to a victory he will have certainly lived up to his top billing.