Playing In Bazball Era Has Become The Most Fun Period Of My Career: Root

When Joe Root amassed 1708 runs at an average of 61.00 in Tests in 2021, few expected the England talisman to sustain the ludicrous form for an extended period. Many felt that Root’s batting might, in fact, take a hit after he stepped down as skipper in 2022, but in what’s been nothing short of extraordinary, the 34-year-old has hit a mindblowing second wind as a non-captain.

Since June 2022, when Ben Stokes took over the reins in Tests, Root has played 36 Tests, and in those games, he’s remarkably hammered 3117 runs at an average of nearly 57.00. What’s astonishing is that he’s been playing the most expansive cricket of his career during this period, with his strike rate jumping from 57.50 to 68.99, a transformation nobody saw coming.

Ahead of the all-important India series, Root spoke about how playing under Stokes has been the ‘most fun’ period of his career.

"Ben did so much for me as my vice-captain, now it's my turn to give a bit back to him," Root told Sky Sports ahead of the India series.

"It was difficult and weird coming back into the team after being leader. I didn't want to get in Ben's way or step on his toes but I wanted him to know I was there to support him.

"I knew a big part of that was scoring runs. I wanted to make sure I could affect games with the bat and clearly if I was following his lead as a former captain it sends a strong message to anyone coming into the team or not as established as myself.

"It has become the most fun time of my career. Playing the way we play, the environment that has been created. The job Ben and [head coach] Brendon [McCullum] have done has been fabulous and so much fun has come with it.”

Root further spoke about how summarising everything England do with the term ‘Bazball’ does injustice to what the team’s been doing.

"It might not always get reported how it actually is - I don't think Bazball is the right way to describe it. It has clearly been a big change and is different to how a lot of teams play but there is a lot more method to it than is probably perceived,” he said.

India are Root’s favourite opponents in Tests, with him having nearly scored 3,000 runs at an average of 58.00 against the Men in Blue. Root has 36 hundreds in Tests, and a remarkable 10 of them having come against India.

He lavished praise on the competitiveness of the visitors and spoke about how India’s strength will make for an exciting series.

"You know The Ashes is coming and you will be asked about it. People will be trying to relate stuff in the India series to that but you have a job to do against a brilliant team,” Root said.

"You look at India's progression as a team across all formats and they have all bases covered - great seam attack, talented batters and a very strong spin attack.

"They are going to compete anywhere in the world but our record at home makes for a fantastic series. We will go into it with confidence but also with a huge amount of respect for what they will bring."

2018 was the last time England won a bilateral Test series against India, where they beat the visitors 4-1 in what was actually a tightly contested series.