As the international cricket set to return to action next week, England’s Test captain Joe Root revealed that he has worked on several aspects of his game during Coronavirus-forced break.
The right-hander will miss the first Test of the three-match Test series against the West Indies to attend the birth of his second child. In Root’s absence, Ben Stokes will lead England in the Southampton Test – which will mark the return of cricket post Coronavirus shutdown.
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Ahead of the opening Test against West Indies on July 8, Root also revealed that he has ironed out a few technical flaws during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Root said in a FB Live Chat: “I just tried to make the best use of this time. Generally, you don't get an opportunity in international cricket to have an extended period of time to work on certain aspects of your game. It's about mental adjustments between the series because you are jumping from one format to the other. But this time, I had plenty of time and I could break down my skills and work on ironing out technical flaws.”
England had returned to training after a more than 3 months break due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the 29-year-old didn’t found the hand-eye co-ordination much hard at the nets.
He said, “I was actually surprised how well my first nets went. The only thing you have to get used to is the pace of the game again. That's something which will come once you start playing. Getting back into the rhythm and feel that there is a flow in my movements will be crucial. This is what I have been trying to do in the last couple of weeks. And it has got gradually better and better with every passing day.”
Root signed off by saying, “I have tried to do some batting at home and it was quite challenging. It was quite harsh to ask my wife to give me some throwdowns. But then it was about being mentally prepared for some international series because you didn't know when the next opportunity was going to come. From the captain's point of view, I had to keep the other guys ready and prepared.”
(With TNN Inputs)
