‘Felt like a bit of a zombie almost’ - Joe Root opens up on stepping down as Test captain

England’s prolific batter Joe Root opened up on the personal impact that led to him stepping down from his captaincy role in the Tests. The right-hander had made the decision this year after back-to-back series losses in the Ashes and the tour of West Indies. Ben Stokes replaced him in the captaincy position while Brendon McCullum took over as the head coach of the Test side.  

Since then, England has looked an all-different side by chasing down a lot of big fourth-innings totals and their aggressive brand of cricket has repaid hugely. Ahead of an important Test tour of Pakistan, Root mentioned how he had reacted in a bizarre manner during the time of captaincy for England.  

I was thinking about something I couldn’t control: Joe Root 

Root noted how the England leadership had taken a massive toll on him in terms of being mentally absent in a lot of family situations and reckoned he could not enjoy his family time completely. He went on to add that he had been thinking about the uncontrollables, which made him feel like a "zombie" in the house.  

“The captaincy was starting to take a toll on me. It was getting to the point where I wasn’t really present at home. The limited time I did get to spend with family, which should be enjoyed and treasured, I wasn’t able to do that. I wasn’t really there. I came to realise that that had been the case for a little while," Root was quoted as saying by dailymail.co.uk. 

“I was there but there were times when I was thinking about something I couldn’t control or something that hadn’t happened previously. You go in on yourself. We would still do what we would normally do as a family but I would not be listening. I just felt like a bit of a zombie almost." 

Root reckoned that he saw his kids getting frustrated on him and concluded that the captaincy had a reverse impact on his personality.

“I could see it frustrating the kids because I wasn’t properly playing with them or I was talking to Carrie and I would zone out. I could start seeing it have an impact on me as a person. You want to bring your personality to the role, not bring the role to your personality. It was reversing into something slightly unhealthy," he added.