"Could severely limit his output next summer" - Michael Vaughan warns Joe Root ahead of facing Jasprit Bumrah in IND vs ENG Tests in 2025
Former England captain Michael Vaughan has warned that Jasprit Bumrah could severely impact Joe Root's run-scoring when India arrives next summer for the marquee five-Test series. Vaughan's comments came after Root suffered a rare failure in the home summer at The Oval, with Bumrah also boasting a good record against the Englishman.
Root, who had been prolific in the first two Tests against Sri Lanka, made scores of 13 and 12 at The Oval. After England delivered a disappointing batting performance at The Oval, the visitors humbled them for a consolation win in four days.
In his column for The Telegraph, Vaughan wrote that England must find another way if Root fails as good bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah and Pat Cummins are likely to get the better of him at some stage or the other. The 49-year-old wrote:
"Jasprit Bumrah enjoys bowling at Root, and could severely limit his output next summer. The same goes for Pat Cummins in Australia, where Root has never scored a hundred. England have to have ways of succeeding when Root doesn’t make big runs. On the basis of this game, they don’t."
The 2005 Ashes-winning captain warned that the Yorkshire batter can't succeed in every match. He continued:
"This week really hit home to me how important Joe Root is to this batting lineup. His batting is the key. All these flamboyant players around him get flamboyant fifties. But without the glue at No. 4 getting the huge amount of runs he does, they are knackered. He can’t do it every week, and he didn’t do it this week."
The 33-year-old finished as the highest run-getter in both the series against the West Indies and Sri Lanka with 291 and 375 runs, respectively. Root broke a plethora of records too and also broke Sir Alastair Cook's record of 33 Test tons.
"Teams will be clocking this" - Michael Vaughan points out Harry Brook's weakness
Reacting to Harry Brook's underwhelming summer, Vaughan identified that the youngster is vulnerable outside off-stump and that teams will bowl consistently outside the channel. He explained:
"He could be a genius, but he’s pretty much published an invitation to bowling attacks around the world to bowl to him in the channel with a packed offside field, and he will chase it. He won’t just wait.
"Teams will be clocking this, both the analysts and the great bowlers like Bumrah and Cummins. Brook will give himself nowhere to go, because in the Ashes last year he took on every short ball, and now if you hide it outside off stump he will take that on too."
England's next Test series is against Pakistan, which is scheduled to begin on October 7 in Multan.