Former England spinner Monty Panesar reckons veteran batter Joe Root could face Virat Kohli’s fate in Test cricket if he doesn’t deliver the goods in the Ashes series against Australia. Kohli could only score 190 runs in five Test matches against the Aussies in the Border-Gavaskar series at an average of 23.75 and he was continuously troubled by the fourth-fifth stump line. The Indian veteran then decided to call time on his Test career in May.
On the other hand, Joe Root hasn’t yet scored a century in the Australian conditions and there is no doubt that he is going to hold the key in the Ashes. Root recently scored 537 runs in five Test matches at an average of 67.12 in the Anderson-Tendulkar series against India.
The England veteran has scored 13543 runs in 158 Test matches at an average of 51.3 in his glorious career and he would want to carry the good form.
Monty Panesar said in an interview with India Today, “It really depends how next year goes for him, how the Ashes go, we saw very much with Virat Kohli, right? He went to Australia and he just didn’t know what to do with that ball outside 4th, 5th stump. I think that kind of led to his decision or a collective decision for him to retire. And yeah, if Joe Root doesn’t have a good Ashes series and it goes really bad for him.”
“Suddenly all it takes one series and you look, it’s a different ball game altogether. England could lose their coach, their captain, if it’s a very bad series, a few jobs could be done. Suddenly pople begin questioning, is he gone past his best? So it’s very important when you go to Australia, doesn’t matter how good you are, you’ve got to perform in Australia.”
Panesar said it is going to be difficult for Joe Root to deliver the goods in the Australian conditions as he will be up against the pace trio of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Pat Cummins.
“It’s going to be very difficult for him because he’s going to be facing a strong Australian attack, and this is probably one of the strongest bowling attacks we’ve seen. But the form he’s shown, and the runs he’s scoring, he would probably want to score 100,” said Panesar (via the aforementioned source).
“I’m sure there will be one of those Test matches, where the wicket isn’t so bouncy, there’s not so much pace in it possibly at Adelaide or, even in Melbourne, depending on the conditions. Well he’s got a chance, but anything a bit bouncy or quick, I think, it’d be, it’d be a little bit difficult for him.”
The first Ashes Test will be played at Perth from November 21.
