Ashes 2021-22 | Am the right man to take England team forward, says Joe Root
Joe Root believes that he is still the right man to lead the English side
|England captain Joe Root has opined that he is still the right man to lead England after their loss, under his leadership, in Ashes 2021-22. Root further added that he would love to have an opportunity to lead this team and turn things around producing the kind of performances England fans expect.
Australia won the Ashes by a score of 4-0 on their home soil and will be riding high on confidence. Pat Cummins had a great start to his captaincy as the team inflicted a clean sweep in his debut series as full-time captain. England’s performance was poor and things went from bad to worse for them in the series. They were already struggling with the lack of consistency from batsmen but this time bowlers were also unable to restrict the opposition from scoring big totals.
Joe Root’s captaincy has also come under a lot of scrutiny as several former cricketers criticized him for his captaincy. Root believes that he is still the right man to captain England in spite of the devastating loss in Ashes.
"I believe I am the right man to take this team forward, in my own eyes, and if that decision is taken out of my hands, so be it," Root said to reporters.
"But I'd love the opportunity to carry that forward."
Joe Root scored 322 runs from 10 innings and no other batsmen except for him were able to cross the 300-run mark individually. Also, Mark Wood was the only bowler in the top five of the highest wicket-takers with 17 wickets. Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson picked 13 and 11 wickets respectively. Reflecting on England's performance Root admitted that it hasn’t been good enough but also noted that he would like the opportunity to turn things around.
"I'd love the opportunity to take this team forward and to turn things round. At the moment, we're going through a real tough stage as a group of players,” he explained.
"The performances haven't been good enough but I'd love the opportunity to turn things round and for us to start putting in performances you'd expect from an English test team."
Root has also admitted that they were the second-best side in the series and have to find a way of improving themselves.
"We've let ourselves down because we've not given a fair account of what we're capable of. But, at the same time, it's quite evident that Australia are, at this moment in time, a better team than we are, in all areas,” he concluded.
"It hurts me to say that, but it's the reality of things and we've got to accept that and find a way of doing better. Find a way of very quickly turning things around."
