'We can't rule him out' - Eoin Morgan confirms Joe Root is part of England's T20 World Cup 2021 plans

After being sidelined from the England T20I XI for more than two years, Joe Root seems to be still in contention for a spot in the ICC T20 World Cup squad in UAE later this year. In post-match interaction, Morgan stated that there are many players who are in contention and there is no way one should rule out the possibility of seeing Root in the squad. 

On Tuesday, Root, England’s Test skipper, played a match-winning knock of 79 runs from 89 balls, which helped his side to win the first ODI against Sri Lanka by five wickets. England had got off to a terrible start which they recovered from and took a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series. Root was not part of the T20I squad which recently whitewashed the visiting Sri Lankan team 3-0. As a matter of fact, he has not been in the T20I squad for some time.

Root’s absence in the T20I squad could have been also a part of his workload management considering that he had to lead England in more than 15 Tests in 2021. It should be noted that Root was leading his county, Yorkshire Vikings, while England played Sri Lanka in the T20I series. His record T20Is is pretty good, having scored 893 runs at 35.72 in 30 innings. 

Test matches being a priority, hasn’t allowed Joe Root to play as much T20: Eoin Morgan

“I think there are a lot of people who are (in contention) and certainly you can’t rule Joe out,” said Morgan as quoted by Sky Sports. In the 2016 T20 World Cup, Joe was the leading run-getter for England and also played a fantastic knock of 83 runs from 44 balls during a record run chase of 230 against South Africa. Morgan also spoke about his knock of 54 in the final against the West Indies. The limited-overs skipper further noted that the schedule was to blame for Root not playing enough T20Is. 

“The role he played in 2016, the runs he scored, and the manner in which he scored them as well went a long way towards getting us to the final. His knock in the final as well was outstanding. I think circumstances in the last two years, given how busy the schedule is but also Test matches being a priority, hasn’t allowed Joe to play as much T20 as he’d have liked,” Morgan said.