Joe Root to skip IPL in ultimate sacrifice for Test team

England Test captain Joe Root has all but confirmed that he will not be a part of the Indian Premier League mega-auctions. One of the best batters of the modern generation, Root has not been a part of the cash-rich league even once in his career. In all probability, what could be the final mega auction of the league, this could have been Root’s best chance to enter a franchise. However, the chances look grim with Root stating that he will be sacrificing as much as he can to rebuild the English Test team. 

His comments come after England’s drubbing of four-nil in the Ashes series where England were bested in all departments.

“I’ll keep sacrificing as much as I can because I care so much about Test cricket in our country and trying to get us to where we want to be,” Root said, effectively turning down the proposition to join IPL.

Massive amounts of criticism have been chucked towards the national team for their impatience in the middle and Root has had to face some chin music from the Australian media about his meek captaincy.

“There’s a lot that we need to do for this team, which deserves all of my energy,” Root told the media in the post-match press conference.




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SL vs ZIM | 1st ODI: Fifties from Nissanka, Chandimal and Asalanka guide Sri Lanka past Zimbabwe

It was a thorough professional chase from Sri Lanka as they defeated Zimbabwe by five wickets with eight balls remaining to win the first ODI of the three-match series between the two sides taking place at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium at Pallekele. Three Sri Lankan batters in opener Pathum Nissanka, experienced batter Dinesh Chandimal and rising star Charith Asalanka played pivotal roles in the chase of a huge target of 297 runs set up by the Zimbabwe team. It all started well with a cautious start by the opening pair of Nissanka and Kusal Menids, who was making a comeback to international cricket after serving a ban of five months. After the 40 run opening stand, Mendis was caught behind the wicket by Regis Chakabva off the bowling of Blessing Muzarabani. Kamindu Mendis, who replaces, Kusal also had a decent stand with Nissanka as the two added 41 for the second wicket before Kamindu was trapped by Richard Ngarava. It was after the dismissal of Kamindu that experienced Chandimal walked in. Chandimal played the anchor role giving a free hand to first Nissanka and later on Asalanka to attack from the other end. He had a 67 run stand with Nissanka before the latter was removed Sikandar Raza and then had a match-winning 129 run stand with Asalnka before he himself was out courtesy of soft dismissal. While both Nissanka and Chandimal made 75 each, Asalanka, after the fall of Chandimal scored more freely and reached his fourth ODI fifty in only his ninth match. However, he too couldn’t see his team home and became Ngarava’s third scalp after being trapped LBW for 71 off 68 balls. Skipper Dasun Shanka and Chamika Karunaratne saw the end of the game remaining unbeaten on 10 and five respectively. Earlier in the day, after winning the toss and deciding to bat first, Zimbabwe on the back of a century from Sean Williams (100 0ff 87 balls), a half-century from Regis Chakabva (72 off 81 balls) and valiant debut innings of 42 from just 50 balls by Takudzwanashe Kaitano managed to get to 296-9 in their 50 overs. The second game between the two sides will be played at the same venue on Tuesday, January 18th, 2022.