England coach Brendon McCullum is not concerned about Joe Root’s form ahead of the third Test against India which is set to take place from Thursday, February 15 in Rajkot. The visitors lost the second test by 106 runs in Visakhapatnam as India equalled the five-match series.
Joe Root has struggled to get a big score in the ongoing test series. He managed scores of 5 and 16 in the second Test. He was dismissed off a poor shot to R Ashwin in the second innings as England failed to chase down 399 runs. Former cricketer Michael Atherton also criticised the shot terming it an “ugly un-Root-like shot”.
“With 52 runs in four innings, he has yet to find his stride. He now has a nine-day break to reflect on matters. It was an ugly un-Root-like shot to end his innings,” Atherton wrote in an article for The Times.
Brendon McCullum backs Joe Root
Overall, Joe Root has managed 52 runs in four innings in the ongoing test series. Despite the underwhelming performance, England head coach Brendon McCullum backed Root to get amongst runs in the upcoming matches. He expressed that Root is a “world-class player”. He also spoke about the veteran batter’s dismissal in the second innings of the second Test. Brendon McCullum said as quoted by the Belfast Telegraph,
“There are three Tests left, still an opportunity to score a whole s*** ton of runs. Joe’s a world-class player and as good as anyone England has ever seen. People will look to the dismissal, look at the method of his option, but he was trying to get the field back so he could milk them.”
“It is the bravery you have to show at times and sometimes you get out doing it, that’s just the way the game rolls. There is no doubt from our point of view about that approach,” added McCullum.
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