Nasser Hussain Questions Bazball Approach For Sudden Downfall Of England Batter Joe Root

England’s most experienced batter in sub-continent conditions – Joe Root has struggled to find his rhythm and score runs in the ongoing 5-match Test series against India. Former England cricketers like Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton have questioned whether or not the Bazball style of play has impacted their performances or not.

Joe Root has struggled against spinners as well as pacers in the first two Tests in Hyderabad and Vishakhapatnam. While his technique is still as superior as it was during England’s previous tours of India, Root’s poor shot selection is something that has come to the fore in this series.

The 33-year-old who has more than 11,000 runs in the longest format is yet to fully display his true self against an Indian side, which is relatively weaker than the team’s he has previously come against. In the 1st Test where England won by a 28-run margin, Root managed to score 31 runs across innings at the Rajiv Gandhi stadium.

He scored 29 runs in the 1st innings from the number 4 position before eventually losing his wicket by attempting to play a sweep shot, something the English batters have prominently used in this particular tour. In the 2nd innings, Joe Root managed to score just 2 runs before falling prey to Jasprit Bumrah’s ruthless reverse swinging spell with a lbw.

Although Ollie Pope’s masterclass knock of 196 saved the game for England as they posted 231 as the target, which the Indian batters failed to chase down enroute Tom Hartley’s 4th innings 7-wicket haul. Then in the recently concluded 2nd Test in Vizag, the right-hand batter gave his wicket to Bumrah for the second time in the series as he edged one behind to the hands of first slip Shubman Gill.

Then during England‘s unsuccessful attempt of chasing 399 to double their lead, Joe Root became Ravi Ashwin’s 499th Test wicket as the former tried to dance down the track and hit one over mid-wicket but he mistimed it totally for a leading edge to the hands of Axar Patel.

Now just imagine how the England batting line-up has got weaker due to the underwhelming performances from Root. If he had been at his absolute best, the Three Lions would have scored much more runs than they have managed thus far.

“Does He Need To Play Like That” – Nasser Hussain Questions Bazball and Joe Root’s Aggressive Approach

While speaking to Michael Atherton on Sky Sports Cricket, Nasser Hussain argued over the fact that Joe Root doesn’t have to be as impatient with his game as he has been until now. Hussain asked if the Bazball approach is getting the worst out of him but then he also reminded everyone about Root’s average improving under Brendon McCullum’s coaching.

“The narrative is does he (Joe Root) need to play like that in this team? Is it Bazball that’s bringing him down? I’ve looked at the stats, before Bazball he was averaging 49. Since Bazball, he’s averaging 53. So it’s actually done his game some good.” – Nasser Hussain said on Sky Sports.