Captain Joe Root wants veteran pacer Stuart Broad to travel with England to Sri Lanka despite the reports that the national selectors are mulling over dropping him for the Test series.

It is learned that the England selectors are thinking to leave Broad, who has taken 23 wickets in seven home Test matches against Pakistan and India this year, out for the Sri Lanka tour only because of his ineffective bowling in spinning conditions to open a spot for another spin bowler at the side.

Root has backed Broad –England’s second most successful Test bowler, to play a crucial role on the South Asian pitches when they will play three Tests in Sri Lanka, starting from November 6, 2018.

Root told the Daily Telegraph on Wednesday (September 19), “I think Stuart's experience will be vital in Sri Lanka. He has had a lot of experience in the subcontinent and had a lot of success with teams out there, so I think it is very important that you utilize that and have experience in those testing conditions to help mould the side around it.”

Noteworthy, Broad eagerly want to play in Sri Lanka in a bid to work on his action having felt he made progress this summer after a poor Ashes series in Australia.

n the other hand, England’s bowling attack would be very inexperienced without Broad if James Anderson gets injured, as the reverse swing could be important in Sri Lanka to beat the hosts in the Tests.

Following the successful campaign at home against India, England is all set to tour Sri Lanka next month to play five One Day Internationals and a one-off T20 international apart from three Tests, while the tour will begin with the first ODI in Colombo on October 5, 2018.