Former India opener Wasim Jaffer on Saturday heaped praise on Joe Root, saying that the England Test skipper is single-handedly carrying the team’s batting on his shoulders. “Joe Root is such a joy to watch. Looks easy on the eyes but scores some tough runs. One of the the best players of spin, and currently the best among usual suspects in Kohli, Smith and Williamson. What a year he’s having, single-handedly carrying the English batting,” tweeted Jaffer.
Root scored 62 in the first innings of the ongoing second Ashes Test at the Adelaide Oval. Along the course of this innings, the England skipper went past 1,600 Test runs in 2021. Root is currently on 1,606 with a second innings in Adelaide and then the third Test at Melbourne still to come this year. The Yorkshire player admitted before leaving for Australia that he had been “desperate” to succeed in a country where he had managed a mere 570 runs, without a hundred, at an average of 38, ahead of the current tour. “I think I probably wanted it too much, I was too desperate, and it had probably a negative impact on the way I played, I put too much pressure on myself,” he said.
If Root manages to score 1,789 runs in 2021, then he would become the batter to register the most Test runs in a single calendar year. Dawid Malan and Root had ensured that England do not lose any wicket in the opening session on Day 3 of the day-night Test on Saturday.
