IPL Franchises Missed a Trick by Not Picking Joe Root - Nasser Hussain

Former English skipper Nasser Hussain is pretty happy to see Mark Wood getting signed by the two time IPL champions, Chennai Super Kings. However, he feels all the IPL franchises missed a trick by not signing English Test skipper, Joe Root in the auctions.

The English star batsman has been a prolific run-getter for England across formats, and it will be unfortunate for the viewers not to see Root in action.

“I’m a bit surprised that Joe Root didn’t get picked up in the IPL auction. It’s not the end of the world, but he’ll take a bit of a knock. Perhaps it is because he’s not as eye-catching as some of the great Twenty20 players when you look at people like AB de Villiers, but if you look at his T20 stats, they are pretty good. I think someone has missed a trick there.

It’s very good for players to go across to the IPL, play in a lot of the games and learn and improve. But if you’re just going there as a bench-warmer, someone who is just going to sit there as part of a squad then we saw what happened to Jason Roy last year, he didn’t play a lot, and then he finds himself out of rhythm,” Hussain said.

Nasser further stated he felt that given the length of the tournament Joe would be snapped up by a franchise, bat him in the three or even give him the captaincy.

“It is a long tournament, and I always felt that if Joe wasn’t snapped up by someone who really wanted him and would play him, bat him in the top three or even give him the captaincy then perhaps it wasn’t worthwhile him going,” he said.

“I was a bit worried when he didn’t go yesterday that he would go and just be a bit of a squad member and that’s no good. He’s a rhythm player, and if he isn’t playing, he needs to be back in England getting used to the conditions. He’s also England captain. His time is valuable and six weeks at the IPL would have been a long time away from home,” he said.

“It’s quite complicated because sometimes players are signed up for two years, and it is all well and good a player saying he is available this year but will they be available next year? Will Joe Root be available next year?

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