Joe Root makes shocking revelation about leaving Test captaincy

A sensational match-winning knock from Joe Root, on Saturday, helped Ben Stokes register a win in his first match as England’s Test captain. Chasing a 277-run total, England looked in trouble after Ben Stokes got out in the 50^th over. England lost half of their side for 159 runs with more than 100 runs still to get.

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However, Joe Root held firm at one end and took the team over the line. He stitched an unbeaten 120-run partnership with Ben Foakes to help his team chase down the score on Day 4 of the first Test at Lord’s.

Root scored the 26^th ton of his Test cricket career and also reached 10,000 Test runs during the run-chase. Joe Root is no longer the captain of the England Test team but is keen to turn the team’s fortunes in the longest format by being a key member of the team. After winning the game for the team, the former skipper talked about how the captaincy took a toll on his personal life.

“It had become a very unhealthy relationship, to be honest, the captaincy and me. It started to take a bad toll on my health. I couldn’t leave it on the ground anymore, it was coming home. It wasn’t fair on my family, on people close to me, and it wasn’t fair on myself either,” said Root after playing a match-winning knock against the Kiwi side.

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“I had thrown everything at it and I was determined to help turn this team around but I realized over that time at home that it would have to be in a different way. I’m very excited to do that now and to do everything I can to help Ben turn this team around and make this team the force it should and can be,” the former skipper added.

Under the captaincy of Joe Root, England endured a tumultuous time in the last couple of years. England’s Test team could only win 1 Test out of the last 17 games under Root’s leadership. Root, eventually, stepped down from the role after suffering humiliating series defeats against West Indies and Australia.