Joe Root is having an underwhelming series against India. While England have fought tooth and nail with India in the ongoing five-match series, their modern-day great batter Root is finding it tough to get going. Root has so far managed to score only 52 runs in the four innings he has played at an average of 13.
Root has not been able to score even a 30 in the series and his last outing was criticised by many when he came at a crucial juncture of England chasing a record 399. Root, who picked up a finger injury while fielding in the second innings, went for an ugly slog despite not being to the pitch of the ball to end up gifting his wicket. Former England captain Michael Vaughan has criticised the star batter for his Bazball approach.
"The batsmen, meanwhile, look like they only have one way to play. They are in fifth gear from ball one. I don’t mind some of them playing like that because they are better for it. But Joe Root should forget it," Vaughan wrote in his column for The Telegraph.
"He has 10,000 Test runs playing like Joe Root. He doesn’t need to be a Bazballer. It is time for someone in the management to put an arm around Joe and say ‘please just be yourself’. I think it’s as simple as the fact that he is too wrapped up in Bazball, the whole ethos of excitement and entertainment," he added.
He called Root the best spin player England has produced along with Graham Gooch and should be careful about his business against them. He was critical for his second innings dismissal in Visakhapatnam too. "This is particularly important against spin. Along with Graham Gooch, Root is the best player of spin England has ever produced. To see him bat the way he did in the second innings, that’s not Root, and it’s not the way England are going to win in India, just gifting wickets away," he added.
