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IPL 2018: England Test skipper Joe Root opens up about IPL snub

Finally, star England batsman Joe Root has opened up about his snub from much-talked about Indian Premier League players’ auction.…

IPL 2018: England Test skipper Joe Root opens up about IPL snub

England's Joe Root (R) bats as New Zealand's Tom Latham (L) reacts. (Photo Credit-AFP)

Finally, star England batsman Joe Root has opened up about his snub from much-talked about Indian Premier League players’ auction.

Earlier in mega IPL auction, English Test skipper Joe Root and South African batsman Hashim Amla were only two marquee players who went unsold.

Talking about the snub, Root said he was ‘disappointed’ after he was not picked by any team. “I was disappointed,” Root said.

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“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,” Root added.

“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.”

In the recently concluded tri-nation T20I series involving England, Australia and New Zealand, Root was not in the English squad. However, Root returned in the One-day International (ODI) for the bilateral tournament against Kiwi team in New Zealand.

Earlier, just a few weeks before the auction, Trevor Bayliss England Team’s coach had advised Root to not take part in the upcoming Indian T20 league.

“We had that discussion a few days ago, I suggested to him that he shouldn’t play, that he should have a break,” Bayliss had told Sky Sports.

“He feels that whenever he’s had a break in the last couple of years, it’s always been a T20 series. He wants to play in 50-over World Cups and T20 World Cups.”

“He thinks if he keeps missing all the T20 cricket, he’s just going to fall behind and not be up to speed when those come along.”

“It’s just a Catch-22 situation. There are difficult decisions to make. You’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” the coach concluded.

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