England skipper Joe Root has an Ashes to forget so far. He has scored just 237 runs from seven innings so far and has been seriously below par with the bat. Former England skipper Nasser Hussain thus was very vocal on Root’s form and performance.

As per the recent quotes in Metro.co.uk, Nasser Hussain suggested Root to be hard on himself. He remarked that if Root wishes to be in the league of players like Virat Kohli and Steve Smith, then he has to look beyond the 60s and 70s. He needs to rack up runs like the others are doing. They have excellent conversion rates and that is what makes them special talents.

“The greatest batsmen – guys like Virat Kohli and Steve Smith – have excellent conversion rates. They grasp the simple fact that you don’t win Tests with pretty 50s and 60s: you win them with big hundreds or even doubles. At some point, Root is going to have to sit down and ask himself whether he’s working out those percentages properly,” quoted Nasser Hussain.

“He’s got all the shots in the world. But if he wants to be remembered as one of the greats – and he has the talent – then he’ll need to be harder on himself,” he added.

Citing more reasons why Root needs to focus on his game, Hussain drew comparisons between him and Alastair Cook who bounced back to form with his fifth double ton of his Test career. While Root looks to be more classy, Cook, on the other hand, is more gutsy feels Hussain.

“You could hardly get two more different batsmen. Cook has always had a dodgy technique, whereas Root’s is almost flawless. Root clearly has this inbuilt desire to entertain but Cook is there to score runs. He’s said himself that he’s not fussed with the aesthetics of the game, as Root obviously is – and a good thing too, because it makes cricket so much more watchable,” Nasser concluded.