‘He doesn’t need to be a Bazballer’: Vaughan advises Root to bat sensibly in remaining Tests against India

New Delhi: Former England cricketer Michael Vaughan has advised Joe Root to bat sensibly and according to the situation rather than falling for ‘bazball’ approach in the remaining three Test matches of the series.

Root received a lot of criticism for his aggressive shot selection that forced him out early in the second innings when chasing 399 runs in Visakhapatnam. Root, got out on 16 off 10 deliveries after smashing two boundaries and a six in the second inning. In an attempt to clear the mid-wicket boundary off Ravichandran Ashwin’s delivery, he edged the ball to the short third-man and lost his wicket. England were still 245 runs short of the target at that point and ultimately lost by 106 runs.

In his column for The Telegraph, Vaughan instructed Root to bat like his old self and to avoid adopting an aggressive stance.

“The batsmen look like they only have one way to play. They are in fifth gear from ball one. I don’t mind some of them playing like that because they are better at it. But Joe Root should forget it. He has 10,000 Test runs playing like Joe Root. He doesn’t need to be a Bazballer.”

The batting stalwart of the England team, Root has hardly scored runs with the bat, with only 52 runs under his belt in four innings. His trouble against Jasprit Bumrah is quite evident, Bumrah has now claimed him eight times in Tests.

Vaughan has backed Root for his batting skills against the spinners and wants him to put a heavy price on his wicket.

“It is time for someone in the management to put an arm around Joe and say, ‘Please just be yourself.” This is particularly important against spin. Along with Graham Gooch, Root is the best player of spin England has ever produced. To see him bat the way he did in the second innings, that’s not Root, and it’s not the way England are going to win in India, just gifting wickets away,” he added.

England are currently in Abu Dhabi and will face India in the third Test, beginning on February 15 in Rajkot.

–IANS