File image of Joe Root.© AFP
Former England captain Michael Vaughan waxed lyrical about England star batter Joe Root, as the latter notched up a 35th Test century, going past the tally of cricket icons like Sunil Gavaskar and Brian Lara. However, despite Root’s consistent exploits, Vaughan was open to admit his weakness. In fact, Vaughan said that Root only struggles against one bowler in the entire world, and went on to reason why. That bowler is none other than the No. 1-ranked ICC Test bowler in the world – India’s Jasprit Bumrah.
Vaughan admitted that the “only” bowler that Root is not good at facing is the Indian pace spearhead.
“The only bowler he does not quite line up is Jasprit Bumrah, I reckon, but who does?” Vaughan wrote in his column for The Telegraph UK.
“To be as good as he is you have to pick up the ball so quickly out of the hand, which gives him that extra bit of time. He will already be working on that and thinking about how to manage him (Bumrah) next summer,” Vaughan added.
Bumrah and Root are likely to face off in June 2025, when India tour England for a five-match Test series. That series is in the next World Test Championship (WTC) cycle (2025-27), and India may well face England before that in the WTC 23-25 final.
Vaughan was bullish in his statement that Root does not have any major weakness, be it against pace or spin.
“There is no obvious way to get him out, against pace or spin. At the moment, bowlers are waiting for him to make a mistake,” said Vaughan.
Root slammed his 35th Test ton in the first Test against Pakistan in Multan. He ended Day 3 unbeaten on 176, and will be eyeing his sixth double century on Day 4.
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