England Cricket Board (ECB) has directed their Test captain Joe Root not to feature in the next edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after permitting him to play in Australia’s Big Bash.
Meanwhile, Root and Jos Buttler will take part in the first half of the Big Bash for Sydney Thunder. However, ECB are conscious of workloads ahead of what will arguably be their busiest ever summer next year. Furthermore, it will also be one of the memorable summers as they stage the World Cup and Ashes next year.
So Joe Root cannot put himself forward for any places that may become available in IPL squads. ECB wants their Test skipper to rest ahead of the immense challenges next summer. Notably, the same doesn’t apply to Jos Buttler, who also represents England in all the formats.
It is questionable whether Root should play in any Twenty20 franchise cricket at a time when he has so much on his plate and could do with concentrating on both his batting and captaincy at Test level.
Yet he is adamant he wants to prove himself in the shorter and most lucrative format after losing his England Twenty20 place and sees the Big Bash as the perfect platform to do that.
However, Joe Root is having a tough time with the bat in the ongoing Test series against India. He has managed to score only a half-century so far in the three Tests. Although England leads the five-match Test series 2-1, the hosts need to put up a good show at Southampton to seal the series.