Joe Root expresses his desire to feature in IPL 2023

Former English skipper Joe Root, who recently lifted the lid on his frustrating last few months as the leader of the red-ball side, has expressed the desire to ply his trade in the Indian Premier League. The Englishman is considering putting his name into the IPL auction for the upcoming season, scheduled for next month.

One of the finest longest-format batters of this generation and arguably England’s best Test player of all time, Root has not been able to participate in the cash-rich league due to his commitments with the national team. However, after the appointment of Ben Stokes as the Test skipper, Root has rediscovered his form and is looking to expose himself to the thrills and spills of the premiere T20 tournament in India.

“I would certainly debate going into the IPL draw quite seriously and hope to get exposure in that tournament. It would be great to get involved in the continuous enormity of each game and how much it means,” Root was quoted as saying to dailymail.co.uk.

It might be a good time to explore playing a little bit more of that format: Joe Root

The talismanic batting ace has been an integral part of the English red-ball side but despite averaging a healthy 35.72 in T20Is, has not featured for the national side since 2019 in the shortest format of the game. Root plans to throw his name into the contention of the T20I squad as he has more time for all formats of the game after renouncing his leadership duties earlier this year.

“I have no thoughts or feelings of retirement or slowing down or playing fewer formats. If anything, I feel a little bit more freedom with my time. I always used to get rested for the T20s and I feel like I got alienated from the format because I had not played enough of it. You can feel like you are getting left behind a little bit. Now, the next couple of years, might be a good time to explore playing a little bit more of that format and see how far I can take that side of my game,” he added.