File photo of Joe Root.
England Test captain Joe Root came out against the England cricket board's (ECB) controversial rotation policy saying he hopes it is kept behind during the England vs India five-match Test series from August.
England and Wales Cricket Board adopted the policy to look after their players' mental health due to the long isolation periods spent in bio-secure bubbles over the COVID-19 safety protocols. However, with recent series losses against New Zealand at home and against India at their own den has called for severe criticism from several experts.
Root said with 10 big Test matches coming, including the Ashes in Australia late in the year, England will need their best team in action.
"We are coming into a period of time now where rest and rotation is put behind us. Hopefully, if everyone is fit, we are going to have our best team available for what is to follow. That's really exciting and something I'm very much looking forward to," ESPNcricinfo quoted Root as saying. "We have ten very hard Test matches against two brilliant opposition coming up but it is a great opportunity for us to play some strong cricket and if everyone is fit and available we will have a good team ourselves."
He further stressed: "I'd like to think that, over the next five Test matches, we'll be trying to play our strongest side or have our strongest squad available for those games. This is, I suppose, what you do it for: to ready yourself for this lead-in and for in particular that Ashes. To make sure everyone's peaking for that, and these big games."
