A drubbing at the hands of Australia at Manchester has sealed the faith of Ashes urn and irrespective of results of the fifth Test, the Aussies will retain the urn that hey had regained in 2017. This is the first time since 2001 that Australia have retained Ashes on England soil.
Read More: Aakash Chopra Gives His View On Young Wicketkeeper-Batsman Sanju Samson
After suffering second defeat in the series against Australia, England’s fans came down hard on their captain Joe Root and called for Root to be sacked as the skipper. Here is Twitterati reacted to England’s defeat under Joe Root –
https://twitter.com/MoneyMarshallG/status/1170753556024037382
Sack Joe Root , shit captain
— Kev (@RoebuckKevin) September 8, 2019
Joe Root a captain is consuming Joe Root a batsman.
Average of 52+ and 40+ as non-captain and captain tells how much has he fallen after being captain.
Relive him as a captain and let him to score runs at no.four; what's his prime job.#Ashes19— Pawan Acharya (@pawan7ach) September 9, 2019
Joe Root should quit as Captain. He lacks strategic and tactical acumen.
— Naveed Khan (@naveed_a_khan19) September 9, 2019
IMO,way forward for Eng #Ashes2019
Ben Stokes as captain
Joe Root back at 4
Joe Denly at 3
Don Sibley to open with Rory Burns
Bairstow to play as a specialist batsmen,so the best Wicket Keeper Ben Foakes is back in the team.#TheAshes2019— Guru (@GuruOnCricket) September 8, 2019
#Ashes19 Joe Root is a great player, but not a great captain. Leaked runs in all four tests. Best test sides control the match in the field and too many such sessions drifted way off course (need tighter spinner). Cummins/Hazlewood deserve victory. Batting a virtual one-man band.
— David Randall (@DJRConcordia) September 8, 2019
https://twitter.com/MartynAsby/status/1170809130497576960
Root took over as the captain of England’s Test side in early 2017 when Alastair Cook stepped down from his post. Under him, England have suffered Test match defeats against South Africa and West Indies at home.
Earlier this year, West Indies stunned England with a 2-1 win in the Caribbean, that was considered to be the lowest point in Root’s captaincy career.
He had a chance to redeem himself in the Ashes 2019 but with the faith of Ashes urn already decided, Root faced the ire from fans.
Read More: Ashes 2019: Tim Paine Hails Steve Smith As The Best Player He Has Ever Seen
Under him, England have played 32 Tests so far in which they have won 16 and lost 13 Tests. He possesses a win percentage of 40.62, which is greater than that of Cook. But under Root, England have drawn just three Tests thus far while under Cook, England drew 13 Tests.
England’s selectors are unlikely to take a call on the captaincy for now but going ahead, Ben Stokes, Root’s deputy, is a strong contender to take over the job from the incumbent.
Also Read: Ravi Shastri to earn Rs 10 Crore/year as team India’s head coach
England’s backroom staff is set to undergo changes after the Ashes and the incoming coaches will have have a say whether Root will stay or will he move from the post. Trevor Bayliss, England’s chief coach, will be stepping down from his post after the fifth Test of the series.
With the fate of the series yet to be decided, the best England can do is to win the fifth Test and draw level the series. Although the result of the fifth Test will not have any impact on the fate of Ashes urn.