Ever since Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes assumed the roles of the head coach and captain respectively, England have played a fearless brand of cricket in the longest format of the game.

Under their leadership, the Three Lions have defeated New Zealand and South Africa at home and also won the one-off Test against India at Edgbaston.

With this ultra-aggressive approach, England also made a mark away from home as they whitewashed Pakistan 3-0 last December. The Stokes-led side is currently leading the two-match Test series in New Zealand 1-0.

While the team is enjoying success in different parts of the world, former England skipper Joe Root is struggling to adapt to this brand of cricket, Telegraph reported.

“Joe Root has 10,700 Test runs to his name and 28 hundreds but is having an identity crisis as he struggles to adapt to England’s new way of playing,” says the start of an article at Telegraph.

In his attempt to bat aggressively, Root’s strike rate has jumped from 52 to 81.2 but the run-flood has died down. Since the home series against South Africa, he has averaged 22 with two fifties in 11 innings.

After the first Test against New Zealand in Mount Maunganui, Root said he is searching for his role in England’s aggressive Test side.

“For me I’ve just got to find out what sits best and it’s going to take some time. There was the initial relief of coming out of the captaincy and then now I’m just trying to find out what my role is within this team. It sounds silly having the experience I have but you want to be involved and want to be a part of it, you want to heavily contribute and I felt like I’ve not been able to do that the last few test matches,” he said.

“In the recent past it’s a case of…the rhythms of the game, I’ve maybe got a bit caught up in it. But I’m not too far away from what’s given me success.”

In both innings of the first Test against New Zealand, Joe Root got out playing a reverse-scoop and received backing from head coach McCullum to keep playing it.

In a recent Wisden interview, Root said that he has had success with the same shot in the past.

“It was calculated, it was to get them to bowl both sides of the wicket, change their plans and in that middle session, force the game. You take calculated risks. I’ve got where I’ve got to by trusting my gut. It just didn’t quite work out, I just sort of middled the edge of it,” he said.

“It’s not going to stop me playing it, maybe just be smarter about playing it, having played it once, maybe look at my movements. It’s now part of my Test game and I’ll continue to utilise it when it’s the right time.”

“I’ve not performed for a little while, so I had the bit between my teeth in the second innings and it’s given me a little sharpener, a kick up the backside, that this is how I need to play my cricket…how I can be consistently useful in this group,” he added.