IND vs ENG 2024: ‘Desperate’ Joe Root is struggling to match Bazball tempo, says Alastair Cook

Former England skipper Sir Alastair Cook believes desperate Joe Root is struggling to match Bazball tempo in the ongoing Test series against India. Root has thus far scored only 52 runs in two Test matches against India at an average of 13 and he hasn’t been at his best.

The veteran batter scored 16 runs in the second innings of the second Test match at Vizag and was dismissed while trying to play a big shot against Ravichandran Ashwin.

Root was dismissed in the first innings by Jasprit Bumrah and has been dismissed by the pacer on two occasions in the ongoing series.

“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,” said Cook on TNT Sports.

“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 in to what Ben (Stokes) and Brendon (McCullum) are doing that sometimes I don’t think he gets his balance of attack and defence right.”

Cook admitted that Root wasn’t in control in the second innings of the second Test. Root looked desperate at the crease and wanted to hit every single ball out of the ground, which is not his normal game.

“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,” said Cook.

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

The third Test match between India and England will be played at Rajkot from 15th February onwards.