Former England captain Joe Root said stepping aside from Test captaincy early this year was something that was done for the betterment of England cricket. Following a disastrous run in red-ball cricket under Root where England won just one game in the 17 matches played between February 2021 to March 2022, Root decided to give up on leadership. Speaking to Sky Sports upon returning to his home country after winning a historic Test series in Pakistan, Root explained his call to step aside and what he thinks of this new Stokes-McCullum era that has taken the world by storm.
“For a number of reasons, it was the right thing to do – to step back. It needs someone to throw absolutely everything at it. As soon as I made that decision, it was quite clear that it was the right one, and I’ve not looked back. I gave everything to that role and threw everything at it. I am really proud of the way I went about that,” Root told Sky Sports.
Talking about Bazball cricket that saw England hammering Pakistan across three Tests, Root said the aggressive approach is what changed the dynamics the team. Root added saying both McCullum and Stokes are exciting leaders given their way of approaching things.
“It felt like we can score six, seven runs an over on occasions, and when that’s the case you feel like anything is possible. You can chase anything down and even in a game that looks like it could end up being a draw, when you can score 200 plus in a session, it doesn’t feel like that’s really a result option anymore. I think Brendon’s got a very aggressive approach to how to play the game, I think Ben is even more aggressive! It is exciting”
Giving his opinion on what it must be like to be at the receiving end of such exciting yet aggressive cricket, Root said, “It’s an interesting one! Whatever you want to call it, it’s been great fun to play, and I think it must be quite difficult to play against – knowing what score to set.”
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