Lagatar24 Desk
London, April 15: England’s Joe Root announced his decision to resign as Test captain on Friday after five years in command. After England’s 4-0 loss in the recent Ashes series and a 1-0 loss in the West Indies, Root has come under pressure.
“I am immensely proud to have captained my country and will look back on the past five years with enormous pride. It has been an honour to have done the job and to have been a custodian of what is the pinnacle of English cricket,” said Joe Root.
“I have loved leading my country, but recently it’s hit home how much of a toll it has taken on me and the impact it has had on me away from the game,” he added.
After Alastair Cook stood down as England’s permanent Test captain in whites in 2017, Root became the country’s most successful skipper with 27 triumphs. The 31-year-old guided the team to important series victories, including a 4-1 win over India at home in 2018 and a 3-1 win in South Africa in 2020.
In 2018, Root guided England to their first Test series victory since 2001 in Sri Lanka, which was followed by a 2-0 sweep in 2021. Root has 14 hundreds as captain and is England’s second best Test run scorer behind only Cook. His 5,295 runs as captain are the most by any Englishman, placing him fifth all-time behind Graeme Smith, Alan Border, Ricky Ponting, and Virat Kohli.
