"He is the one English batsman whose skill I wish I had" - Michael Vaughan heaps praise on record-breaking Joe Root
Ex-England skipper Michael Vaughan has lauded the record-breaking Joe Root, claiming that he wished to have had the latter's skills. While Vaughan feels Kevin Pietersen and Harry Brook are arguably more gifted cricketers, he would watch Root over them any day of the week.
The Englishman continues to send records tumbling, with the latest being the leading run-getter for England in Tests. The Yorkshire cricketer did it on day three of the opening Test against Pakistan in Multan by hitting a boundary off Aamer Jamal's bowling.
In his column for The Telegraph, Vaughan stated that he hopes to see Root's approach passed on to generations due to its compact nature. He wrote:
"I love watching Kevin Pietersen or Harry Brook, but give me Root any day of the week. He is the one English batsman whose skill I wish I had, and I hope his method is the one that is passed down through the generations, because he has proved you do not need that wide base, baseball-style technique to thrive across the formats."
The 49-year-old observed that one of the reasons Root hasn't fallen out of love with the game he hasn't gone a long period with low scores. Vaughan added:
"The solidity of his technique must be one of the reasons he has never fallen out of love with the game, because it has ensured that he has never had a really poor run of form. He is impervious to major losses of form because his defence is so good and he has so many ways of scoring."
The 33-year-old also had a prolific home summer in which he went past Cook for most Test tons for England and crossed the 12000-run mark, headlined by three centuries.
"There is a great lesson in Joe’s early years for any kids starting out" - Michael Vaughan
Vaughan recalled following the right-hander in his formative years, claiming that the lack of power worked in his favour, given how Root had to develop finnese shots to expand scoring areas. He noted:
"There is a great lesson in Joe’s early years for any kids starting out. Because he was not that big, he lacked power. But that worked in his favour, because he had to work out ways to score runs without being able to clear fielders. That is how he developed all those deft touches to third man and dinks into the leg side, because he could not whack it down the ground."
The 2005 Ashes-winning skipper added:
"It has created such a pure technique. His batting is an extension of his personality, in that he is solid as a rock with that little glint of cheekiness in his eye. He is delightful to watch, an artist at work. Batting coaches talk about “owning channel” outside off stump, which he does brilliantly, but in such a low-risk way."
With Pakistan posting 556 in their first innings in Multan, England have dug deep and are on course to take a lead. They were 483-3 in their first innings at the time of writing, with Root on 173*, closing in on a double hundred.