Joe Root Admits He May Fail To Be In England Squad For T20 World Cup

England’s Test captain Joe Root has admitted that he is losing the fight to make it to the squad for this year’s T20 World Cup in Australia. The right-handed batsman was an integral member of the team when England qualified to the final in the previous edition of the competition in 2016.

He finished the competition as England’s highest run-scorer and third overall behind Tamim Iqbal and Virat Kohli. However, he has fallen down the pecking order in recent times. Since the 2016 T20 World Cup, he has featured in just a dozen of the 27 games and has failed to deliver as per expectations.

After averaging 39.6 and enjoying a strike-rate of 138.78 in his first 20 T20Is, Root has an average of 29.9 and a strike rate of 107.16 in the shortest format of the game since the last edition of the T20I World Cup. He also failed to attract bids in the IPL auction in 2019 and has now admitted that his chances are not bright for the upcoming tournament.

“I think being honest, looking at the squad there is at the minute and the players that are performing around the world in T20 competitions, I’m probably not in the best XI,” said Joe Root, who will return to England after the third and final ODI against South Africa. England will then play three T20Is against the hosts.

“For that reason I’m being left out and that’s part and parcel of cricket. Sometimes you have to take that on the chin,” he added.

He further said that it would be tough for him to get opportunities to prove himself. At the same time, he made it clear that Test cricket remains the priority for him.

“It’ll be difficult for me to get opportunities to prove a point and play in domestic cricket so it is what it is.

“I love white-ball cricket full stop but Test cricket is a big priority for me. It is frustrating but it is important, I suppose, to take rest when you can as a lot of the guys have done here before the T20s start,” he said.

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