I felt like a zombie: Joe Root on 'slightly unhealthy' captaincy role


image-lap73wtaJoe Root [Source: Twitter]


Joe Root abruptly stepped down from his role as the England captain. Root admitted that the captaincy role had taken a toll on his mental wellbeing. The former skipper of 5 years stepped down in April after scalping record number of matches and wins as a captain. 

But the batter admits the role had started becoming "unhealthy".


Joe Root speaks in honesty 


“The captaincy was starting to take a toll on me, the limited time I did get to spend with family, which should be enjoyed and treasured, I wasn’t able to do that. I wasn’t really there. I came to realise that that had been the case for a little while." 

“There were times when I was thinking about something I couldn’t control or something that hadn’t happened previously. You go in on yourself." 

“We would still do what we would normally do as a family but I would not be listening. I just felt like a bit of a zombie almost.

“I could start seeing it have an impact on me as a person. You want to bring your personality to the role, not bring the role to your personality. It was reversing into something slightly unhealthy.”


Root was replaced as Test captain by Ben Stokes, and the star batter played a key role in a successful campaign for England’s extended format squad, scoring three hundreds and averaging 68.33.


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