England captain Joe Root has been the center of attraction in the ongoing Ashes 2021-22, especially his leadership abilities which have been under fire after the visitors lost the first three Tests of the five-match series with huge margins.
Joe Root and co lost the first Test in Gabba by 9 wickets, the second match, a day-night affair at Adelaide was lost by 275 runs and the humiliation peaked in Melbourne, when Australia scored just 276 runs but managed to beat England by an innings and 14 runs, after bowling them out for 68 in their second innings.
Australian legend Ian Chappell said that he doesn’t see any leadership qualities in Joe Root and England’s own Sir Geoffrey Boycott also slammed Root’s captaincy in the ongoing Ashes.
However, Root has found backers in teammates like Ben Stokes, who backed the Yorkshire lad to continue as England Test captain.
Root said he wanted to keep the focus on salvaging some pride from the remainder of the tour, starting with the fourth Test in Sydney beginning on Wednesday.
"At the end of the day ... I don't think as a distraction that should be around the group or I should be wasting energy on right now. I need to make sure to throw everything I can into these two games. I think I owe that to this team and to the players and give us the best chance of getting the results that we desire,” Root told reporters on Monday.
Root said England should learn from their hosts how to handle conditions in Australia.
"We've been shown firsthand by Australia how to go and do that in these conditions. It's our opportunity now to do it to ourselves. Of course, we have to do it in our own way. We can't just try and be something that we're not, but we have to manage that better than we have done so far and take the chances,” the England captain added.
England faces Australia in the fourth Test in Sydney from Wednesday, with the final match in Hobart from Jan. 14.
(Reuters inputs)
