Joe Root Speaks On 'Art Of Batting', Sends Big Message To ECB

Ahead of England starting their 2025 Champions Trophy campaign against Australia, premier batter Joe Root said batting in ODIs is a different thing, as he can't think of any two innings in his career that have been exactly the same. England come into the eight-team competition on the back of losing four consecutive ODI series, latest of which was a 3-0 defeat in India. "I can't think of any two innings that I have played that have been exactly the same."

"I think the art of batting is assessing the conditions in front of you, managing the situation that you're presented with and consistently making good decisions under pressure," Root was quoted as saying by BBC Sport on Friday.

With England's ODI fortunes on a slide after making a league stage exit from 2023 ODI World Cup, Root stated that he's still hungry to have more 50-over success internationally. "I never retired. I have never said I don't want to play the format. I don't think there needs to be either really. I don't think any player has a divine right for selection."

"Obviously you've got perform, you've got to consistently go and do your job and offer something to the team and make sure you're making it a better team, not holding it back. I've never been one to look too far ahead and try and say 'I want to play until here or to then'. You've got to earn the right and you've got to keep putting into the pot," he added.

Root signed off by calling for England's players to be given more regular opportunities of playing the 50-over format and making a turnaround of fortunes in it. "It's just going to take something different. There isn't that opportunity to do that (play as regularly) nowadays but it doesn't mean we can't be as successful as that team."

"There's just different challenges that we're going to have to overcome. Can we find a way to speed that process up by having good, smart conversations and using our experience and share them so that when you get to the crunch moments within big games, you get the team across the line? I think we've got the right players that are able to do that and we've certainly got the talent."

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)