What Virat Kohli did for India, Joe Root also did the same for England as captain: Lalchand Rajput

On 15 April, England Test captain Joe Root stepped down from the captaincy role with immediate effect. He led the team in 64 Test matches and secured victory in 27 of them. Under his leadership, England could not secure victories against New Zealand, India, Australia, and West Indies since 2021.

In particular, the team faced a crushing defeat of 0-4 in the Ashes 2021/22 recently, which might have put a lot of pressure on him to finally arrive at the decision. Former cricketers, Lalchand Rajput and Nikhil Chopra shared their views on Joe Root’s captaincy stint.

Rajput felt Root took England to new heights during his captaincy stint and is a role model for many cricketers. He added that pressure was on him, as the team was not providing the expected results. He pointed out the fact that every cricketer has to face this critical phase of their career, and reckoned that Root will come back strongly as a senior player to play a big innings with less pressure.

“Like Virat Kohli has done it for India, he has done the same with the England team as well. He came to India and used to score a hundred on the turning pitches. He went to Australia, South Africa, West indies, he scored there as well. As a captain, he has been a role model for many years.

“But a phase arrives in every cricketer’s career, and this phase has arrived now in Root’s career. What he is trying to do, the team is not winning, and ultimately when the team is not winning, it is all upon the captain,” said Rajput on Sky247.net presents ‘Not Just Cricket Show’ on CricTracker.

He already has an unbelievable career: Nikhil Chopra

Chopra hailed Joe Root’s career as a batter and supported Rajput’s point of him scoring runs in every country, especially in the longest format. He pressed on the fact that Root being the leading run-scorer for the team in the Ashes 2021/22 with 322 runs in five matches and returning as the best batter for England in the recently concluded Test series against West Indies with 289 runs in three matches as well. He further felt that the decision is taken due to the England team getting outplayed by the opposition in the last few Test series.

“He has had an unbelievable career, the way he has been scoring runs in a consistent manner is incredible. Probably at the end of his Test career, he will be a legendary figure in the game. He has scored runs in every cricket-playing nation, which is due to his talent and mental toughness. This decision is due to the fact that the England team has been outplayed in the red-ball cricket,” said Chopra.