Joe Root joins Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League

The Sydney Thunder didn’t have an auspicious last season having won only four out of their ten matches and finished sixth among eight teams in the championship. The team boasted of players like Shane Watson, James Vince, Mitchell McClenaghan, Jos Buttler and a number of useful cricketers, yet they were unable to perform to expectations. The franchise has recently signed Joe Root as their overseas player.

He will be joined by Jos Buttler, the English wicketkeeper-batsman. The schedule of the Big Bash League (BBL) is expected to be announced next week and the season might get underway from the third week of December. Root was a part of this year’s IPL auction but remained unsold. He is yet to take the field in any overseas T20 league and he would be hoping to be included in the Thunder’s playing eleven as well.

Root’s topsy-turvy T20 career

Root doesn’t have a whole lot of experience in the T20 format. The 27-year old cricketer made his T20 debut, playing for Yorkshire against Warwickshire at Leeds back in 2011. After a year, he made his international debut in the format against India at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. However, his career in the 20-over format hasn’t quite flourished.

Root is presently playing in England’s ODI series against India and hasn’t been able to put up a substantial performance under his belt. He scored only three runs in the first match and fell prey to Kuldeep Yadav’s guile and trajectory. Previously, he played only two of the three T20Is in Manchester and Cardiff and managed scores of 0 and 9.

On both occasions, he perished to the wrist-spinners, once each to Kuldeep and Yuzvendra Chahal. Ben Stokes, following a hamstring injury, returned to the eleven after which Root was left out of the match at the County Ground in Bristol. His last significant knock came in the first ODI against Australia last month when he notched his 28th half-century.

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