Joe Root has resigned as the Test captain of England with immediate effect. He has been in this role for five years and has captained 64 matches for England. During this, the team won in 27 and had to face defeat in 26. The right-handed batsman was under a lot of pressure for some time now. This is because the team has been able to win only one of the last 17 Test matches.
Let us tell you that earlier this year, England had to face an embarrassing 4-0 defeat in the Ashes series at the hands of Australia. After this, the team had to face a 1-0 defeat on the West Indies tour. Since then, questions have been raised on Root’s captaincy. Some other former players, including former captain Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain, had said that the time had come for a leadership change.
In a statement issued by the board, Root said, “After returning from the Caribbean tour, I have decided to step down as captain of the England men’s cricket Test team. This has been the most challenging decision of my career, but after discussing it with my family and those closest to me, I know this is the right time to do so.” The 31-year-old Root holds the record for most number of wins as England’s Test captain. Under his leadership, England have won 27 matches, one more than Michael Vaughan and three more than Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss.
Root confirmed that he would continue to play international cricket. “I look forward to helping the next captain, my teammates and coaches in any way I can,” he added. The team’s vice-captain Ben Stokes could be named Root’s successor. Apart from this, there are also Jos Butler and Stuart Broad. Root has stepped down as the captain at a time when the team is going through a tough time. The team did not already have a managing director, coach, selector and now there is no captain.
ECB chief executive Tom Harrison said Root was an exceptional role model during his captaincy. During this he performed brilliantly. “Joe has led the team through some of the most difficult and uncertain times playing during the pandemic around the world, which speaks volumes about how captain he was,” he said.
Root was appointed captain in 2017 following the resignation of Alastair Cook. Under his captaincy, the team won the series against India in 2018 and against South Africa in 2019-20. On the other hand, apart from a 4-0 loss in Australia, the team did poorly on home soil against New Zealand and India last year. His batting appeared to be affected by the captaincy, but he scored 1708 runs in 2021.