"Jos Buttler, the most complete white-ball batsman England have had": Joe Root 

Root hailed his teammate as the finest limited-overs batter that his country have fielded.

Joe Root and Jos Buttler | GettyFor Joe Root, no doubt remains, England have never had a white-ball batsman of the versatility and explosiveness that Jos Buttler possesses. 

Buttler has played 144 ODIs and 71 T20Is with astonishing strike-rates of 119.05 and 140.17 while maintaining fine averages of 39.74 and 28.53, respectively. 

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The power-packed right-hander, with an unparallel range, has often been compared with South African great AB de Villiers for those qualities. 

Root lauded the 30-year-old while talking in The Analyst's Virtual Cricket Club - an initiative set-up by Simon Hughes to support the Professional Cricketers' Trust. 

"Jos has been the most complete white-ball batsman we've had ever. The way he can play a number of different scenarios. He can just demoralise attacks and very quickly swing games massively in your favour," said Root, adding that he hopes the summer of rejuvenated performances will also act as a springboard for Buttler to extend his greatness to Test cricket. 

"I think he's a phenomenal player and I still don't think we've seen the best of him yet. Hopefully, this summer in Test cricket can unlock doors for him. I saw a piece about AB de Villiers and he said it took him 50 Tests to work out his Test game. I think it's very similar to Jos, to be honest."

Root, himself among the finest batsmen around, has often been referred to as one of the 'Big 4', along with Virat Kohli, Steve Smith and Kane Williamson. But the right-hander isn't sure he would "put myself in their bracket".

"I try not to measure myself against other players," Root said. "But I do watch a lot of how they go about constructing different types of innings across the three formats. You're looking at three of the greatest players the game has seen. They're three brilliant people to watch play and learn from. I'm not sure I'd put myself in their bracket, to be honest."

"I look at how late Kane plays the ball, how still and correct he is. How, under pressure, he finds a way to trust his defence on any given surface. That's a great quality to have."

"You look at Smith and at times he's just awful to watch. It's horrible on the eye. But you'd pay to have him in your team. He's a fantastic run-scorer. The way he thinks about the game and manages passages of play is exceptional. He makes bowlers bowl where he wants them to and his self-confidence you can see by the way he leaves the ball and some of his idiosyncrasies."

"He's always trying to find a way to get on top of the opposition. His hunger for big, big scores is fantastic."

Root reserved special praise for Kohli, who carries the enormous weight of expectations of more than a billion people in India and yet has been a dominating force in all forms of the game. 

"Virat is probably the most complete player out of the three of them (he, Smith and Williamson) across formats," Root said. "His ability to chase things down in the limited-overs format and to pace it as well as he does as often as he does and be not out at the end is extraordinary. He's got a very good all-round game but you wouldn't say he's weaker against spin or pace."

"He obviously struggled on his first tour to England, but he scored really heavily when he came back. And similarly, elsewhere in the world, he's put in massive performances. All that with the weight of India on his shoulders, as well," he added. 

Root informed that England players will return to training in the next few weeks before the multiple winter tours that await them. 

A report by ESPNcricinfo stated, "the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) plan to erect a large marquee at their performance centre in Loughborough to enable players to practice on turf wickets."

Integral to England's chances on Test tours to Sri Lanka and India, Root has asked for video analysis of all his recent dismissals in order to regain the best touch. 

"Teams quickly find trends in ways you get out. If you get out in similar fashion on three or four occasions, teams will be using that as a weapon to get you out," Root said. 

"So, I sent an email to our analyst at the start of the week and said, 'can you please send me all my modes of dismissal over the last two years'."

"I want to look for trends within that and know if there's any patterns between 0-20 and 50-80. If there are elements of my game that seem to be constantly worked over, I can look at that and find ways to improve for the future," he added. 

(Inputs from ESPNcricinfo)

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 24 Oct, 2020

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