Alastair Cook Advices Joe Root to Play in His Way Instead of Bazball

Former England captain Alastair Cook feels that senior and one of most important batsman of England, Joe Root is straying from his natural game in the ongoing Test series against India due to his eagerness to adapt to the “Bazball” strategies of captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum, leading to a loss of balance.

Alastair Cook, who led England to victory in a Test series in India back in 2012, observes that Joe Root seemed out of control during his short second innings of 16 runs off 10 balls in the second Test against India in Vishakapattanam. He thought that Root’s approach of attacking every delivery didn’t appear to be in command.

Cook’s View on the Batting Approach of Root:

In the second test against India at Vishakapattanam England lost the match by a huge margin of 106 runs. Cook believes that the “Bazball” strategy failed to guide England’s team towards achieving the challenging target of 399 runs.

England’s highest Test run-getter Alastair Cook said, “He is England’s best batsman there’s ever been in all formats – but he does struggle sometimes with the tempo of this Bazball era”.

He also said, “He sees all these other people playing these aggressive shots, which suit their style. Rooty has got 11,500 Test runs, he’s brilliant, but he’s so desperate to fit into what Ben (Stokes) and Brendon (McCullum) are doing that sometimes I don’t think he gets his balance of attack and defense right”.

Instead of Bazball, Alastair Cook wants Joe Root to play his usual way for which he is recognised as one of the best batsmen in the cricket world.

He added, “He was on 16 off nine balls and he doesn’t normally strike at that rate – he’s normally striking at 75 to 80, which is still incredibly high for a Test match strike-rate, with zero risk. That’s when I love watching Joe Root bat.”

Cook suggests that if Joe Root manages to settle in the first fifteen runs, he is always in well-position to score a century, although this hasn’t been shown during the whole match in Visakhapatnam.

He also added, “When he gets in, you call it early – I’ve called it early a few times on sub-continent days: he’s on 15 but he’s getting a hundred here.

He also observed, “He’s going to milk them at his will, sweeps, all in control. I don’t think he was in that control”.

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