Joe Root seems to be losing sight of his own roots. Well, at least with regards to his batting style says Michael Vaughan, who is of the firm belief that the talisman England batter must get back to playing the way he naturally does and not impose ‘Bazball’ upon himself.
After their 106-run loss to India in the second Test at Visakhapatnam, Root was the recipient of ample criticism for his uncanny shot selection with the bat, which ultimately forced him out early during England’s run chase in the second innings.
England were down 132-3 when Root came in to bat. The talisman batter took no time in attacking Indian spinners and immediately went the Bazball route, smacking 2 boundaries and a six in quick succession.
Despite having released some of the pressure that England were facing at that moment, Root opted not to back down from the approach and hapahazardously swung wild at Ashwin’s flighted delivery, ending up with a thick top-edge that sent the ball sky high, only to be caught easily by Axar Patel at short third.
Upon witnessing all this, former England skipper Michael Vaughan voiced out his concerns for Root regarding his self-imposition of Bazball and how that has come at a cost of the batter losing sight of his own natural ways that made him the batter he is today.
“The batsmen 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 at it. But Joe Root should forget it. He has 10,000 Test runs playing like Joe Root. He doesn’t need to be a Bazballer, ” Vaughan wrote in his column for the Telegraph.
Vaughan also lauded Root as the best player of spin that England has ever produced and stated that it is imperative for the England side to allow Root to play his natural game if they have ambitions of clinching the series in India.
“It is time for someone in the management to put an arm around Joe and say, ‘Please just be yourself.” This is particularly important against spin. Along with Graham Gooch, Root is the best player of spin England has ever produced,” lauded Vaughan.
“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.
The third Test between India and England will take place in Rajkot, and is slated to begin on February 15.
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