Former Australian cricketer Mitchell Johnson has questioned whether Joe Root needs to play the Bazball brand of cricket in Tests, especially after the England batter played a patient knock to score a century in the first innings of the IND vs ENG 4th Test.
Joe Root was being heavily criticised for failing to score runs in the ongoing IND vs ENG Test series. The batter, who has been a fantastic player for England, was the talk of the town for failing to score runs till the first innings of the IND vs ENG 4th Test. His shot selection was particularly criticised, where he got out playing rash shots.
However, Root went back to the basics and scored a fantastic century in the first innings of the IND vs ENG 4th Test. It was a very un-Bazball like knock, but Mitchell Johnson supported Root’s decision to play the patient innings.
“Joe Root has been one of the best for a very long time. I’m not sure he needs to play Bazball, especially when they have plenty of out-and-out attacking players in the team,” Johnson said.
“I said this during the Ashes series: It’s not a new thing to be aggressive as a batting unit. If England find the right balance of when to be aggressive and take on an attack and when to defend, they will be in a better place,” Johnson added.
