Joe Root is carrying his purple patch in the Test format to ODIs as well. The veteran batter's composed unbeaten 166 runs guided England to an epic victory in the second ODI against West Indies on Sunday, June 01. After his terrific knock, Root revealed in the post-match interview that the guilt of not playing much ODI cricket under the captaincy of Jos Buttler is driving his newfound consistency in the 50-over cricket.
Not only the right-hand batter bought up his 100, but in the process broke several records. The 35-year-old went past Eoin Morgan's ODI record for most runs. Root reached 7000 ODI runs - the highest run-scorer for the team to go with, an individual best of 166 registered against West Indies to help England win by three wickets.
"It is a sign you are getting old (on scoring 7,000 runs in ODIs), having played as many games as that."
"I want to give as much as I can for England for as long as I can. I have still got a lot to give and a lot more runs in there, and hopefully, an innings like that shows that."
"Until that desire, that want to get better every day, that want to add to the group and want to be not out at the end of a chase like that, when that is not a burning desire anymore, it will be time to stop. It does not feel like that is anywhere near the case at the moment, and I will keep just trying to do my part in helping us win games and series down the line," he concluded his point.
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Joe Root opens up about missing majority of ODIs from 2019-2024
After England clinched the ODI World Cup in 2019, Joe Root has featured in only 19 ODIs in the four years. Often he was given rest due to England's packed home summer.
"I have played a huge amount of cricket with Jos, and I almost felt guilty that I was not able to be there for him throughout a lot of his tenure."
"Now that there are more chances and more opportunities to play ODI cricket, I want to be involved in that. I want to play as much as I can for England. If I'm going to make the team better, then absolutely." he added.
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So far in 36 ODIs after England's ODI World Cup win, Root has scored 1,226 runs at an average of 40.86, with two hundred and nine half-centuries.
