ENG vs IND: Joe Root believes England will leave behind rest and rotation policy during five-match Test series

ENG vs IND: Joe Root believes England will leave behind rest and rotation policy during five-match Test series

Joe Root

England Test skipper Joe Root has given a clear indication that the English side might not follow their infamous rest and rotation policy during the home series against India. The two teams will lock horns in five Test matches, starting from August 4 at Trent Bridge.

The Joe Root-led side recently lost the two-match Test series 0-1 against New Zealand in their home conditions. However, the Englishman lacked the services of his key players such as Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali.

England are also scheduled to play The Ashes later this year. As a result, Root hinted that all their Test team members will be available for the India series as well.

“We are coming into a period of time now where rest and rotation is put behind us. With Covid and the amount of cricket that we’ve had, there’s been compromises made over different formats and different teams. We now have 10 very hard Test matches against two brilliant opposition teams, but it is a great opportunity for us to play some strong cricket and, if everyone is fit and available, we will have a good team ourselves. I’d like to think that over the next five Test matches we’ll be trying to play our strongest side, or have our strongest squad available for those games,” Root said as quoted by The Independent.

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Joe Root celebrating his ton during a game in 2019 World Cup

The 30-year-old also revealed that he talked to England’s white-ball cricket team skipper Eoin Morgan to regain his spot in the shortest format of the game ahead of the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup. 

“I’ve spoken with Morgs (skipper Eoin Morgan) in the past, trying to find what I need to do to get near that squad. He’s been very open and honest about that: just try and score as many runs as you can. They know what I can offer and there’s no point in going over the same conversation,” he added.

Joe Root is currently playing the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka where he smashed an unbeaten 79* runs in the opening game.

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