He has batted in difficult conditions throughout the tournament and still scored heavily while opening for the Royals, showing his true class.
England’s Joe Root has been in exceptional form while playing for Paarl Royals in SA20 2025 with both bat and ball. He has batted in difficult conditions throughout the tournament and still scored heavily while opening for the Royals, showing his true class.
Root is the leading run-scorer in the season, with 279 runs at an average of 69.75 and a strike rate of 140.91 in seven outings, including three fifties and the best of 92*. Further, he also has 5 wickets at 20 runs apiece, with the best of 2/32.
In Paarl Royals’ latest fixture against Pretoria Capitals, Root churned out another match-winning all-round performance in Paarl. On a slow and low deck, he showed his experience with the willow and weaved a prudent 78-run knock in 56 deliveries, including eight boundaries and two maximums, at a strike rate of 139.29.
The key aspect of this innings was how he manoeuvred the fields and ran hard between the wickets, especially against tweakers. Later, Root snared two wickets while conceding only 32 runs with the ball, including a big wicket of Will Jacks to guide Paarl Royals to their sixth victory this season and at the top of the table.
Joe Root couldn’t have found a better time to up his T20 game and churn out consistent performances in this format. While English batters continue to struggle against Indian spinners at one end, Root has put on a masterclass to tackle them in more difficult conditions.
The selectors must check his performances and see if he can return to this format, especially after other batters’ struggles. He has always been a quality spin player, with ample success in the longer formats in Asian conditions.
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He might not be as flamboyant as other English batters, but quality-wise, he is better than most. He can also play quickfire knocks and utilise the powerplay overs if the decks are flat and good for shot-making.
The next T20 World Cup is in India and Sri Lanka, where spinners naturally get more assistance off the deck, even if they are batting-friendly. England should see how their batters fare vs spin in the remaining matches, and if the trend continues, they should try bringing in Joe Root in T20Is at some stage.
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