He may have fallen out of selectors’ radar in the shortest format of the game, but Test skipper Joe Root is still hopeful of breaking into England's powerful batting line-up for the T20 World Cup, slated to be held in UAE later this year.
Root’s last T20I appearance was against Pakistan in May 2019 and in his absence, England have climbed to the top of the ICC T20I team rankings.
See Also: Eoin Morgan says England can't rule Joe Root out of their T20 World Cup 2021 plans
While England’s top-order is comprised of destructive batters, Root's traditional methods of scoring runs could prove effective on the slow and low pitches expected to be served during the T20 World Cup in Middle East.
“As a batter, all you can do with the quality and strength in depth in that (England) T20 side is try and score as many runs as you can and try and affect as many games in a positive manner as you can," Root, who scored 79* off 87 balls in England’s 5-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the first ODI, said on Wednesday (June 30).
Asked if he would like to feature at the T20 World Cup, the 30-year-old replied: “Of course. Every player wants to be part of that squad."
Root further cited that he is ‘desperate’ to represent England in all forms of the game.
“I am desperate to play for England across all the formats as much as I can," he added ahead of Thursday’s second ODI against Sri Lanka at the Oval.
“In a way it’s not a conversation I need to have (with the selectors). It is their decision and I am sure that they will pick the squad they think will win the tournament — all I can do is force my case."
England’s rest-and-rotation policy, formulated to combat the daunting bio-bubble life amid the COVID-19 pandemic, has received a lot of criticism lately.
Earlier this year, England suffered a 3-1 Test series loss in India while they recently lost the home Test series to New Zealand with some of their best players out of action.
Root said the controversial rest-and-rotation policy was “being put behind” and he expects the full strength team to take the field from now on.
“We are coming into a period of time now where rest and rotation is put behind us," he said.
“With Covid, and the amount of cricket that we’ve had, there’s been compromises made over different formats and different teams.
“We now have 10 very hard Test matches against two brilliant opposition teams coming up but it is a great opportunity for us to play some strong cricket and, if everyone is fit and available, we will have a good team ourselves.
“I’d like to think that over the next five Test matches we’ll be trying to play our strongest side."
(With AFP inputs)
