简体中文
England batsman Joe Root has expressed his disappointment at being unsold during the recent IPL auction in January.
Root had entered the auction in the hope of playing in the IPL for the first time as he bids to improve his T20 skills but none of the franchises picked him up despite his being nominated as one of the marquee players. "I was disappointed," Root said. "The reason I wanted to go out there was to play more Twenty20 cricket; it wasn't to go and earn as much money as possible. I'm not in that position.
"For me, I wasn't going to fit into any one of those [IPL] teams. There's not really much you can do. It was disappointing but it's also very understandable. Sides have a clear idea of what they want their makeup of their team to look like and they build around that.
"You've just got to get on with the rest of the cricket I can play. It gives me a really good period to make sure everything is set for the start of the Test season back at home but it would have been really nice to have had the experience and everything that the IPL brings to the table."
Root was rested from England's disappointing Trans-Tasman T20 tri-Series campaign, also involving Australia and New Zealand, with the expectation that he would secure an IPL deal and spend April and some of May in India. Given the hectic nature of England's schedule for the rest of the year, it was decided by head coach Trevor Bayliss that the tri-series was the best time for a break.
That decision has now seemingly backfired. Root will get a decent rest after the tour of New Zealand finishes in early April and he missed out on valuable T20 game time and the chance to develop in a format that he is determined to play in. Although it was an understandable decision - Root going unsold was somewhat surprising and it is important England look after him - the sense of frustration on the 27-year-old's part is evident.
"It's completely out of my control," Root said ahead of the fourth ODI between New Zealand and England in Dunedin on Wednesday (March 7). "The amount of Twenty20 cricket I'm available to play at the moment is minimal and there's a World T20 in a couple of years' time. I thought it [the IPL] would be a great opportunity to get some good experience in a fantastic tournament."
Root played an important role in England's journey to the final of the last World T20 in India in 2016. He scored 249 runs at a strike rate of over 146 and only Virat Kohli and Bangladesh's Tamim Iqbal scored more. In the nearly two years since then though, Root has only played five T20Is although it is likely that England will select him during the upcoming home summer. They play Australia in a one-off T20I in June which is followed by a three-match series against India.
(CRICBUZZ)
