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'They Don't See What We...,' Joe Root Lashes Back At Pietersen For Nasty 'Golf' Remark

Soumyajit Dutta

Joe Root and Kevin Pietersen [Source: @ICC/X.com]Joe Root and Kevin Pietersen [Source: @ICC/X.com]

England’s star batter Joe Root has responded to Kevin Pietersen’s criticism that the national team did not train adequately during their recent 3-0 ODI series defeat in India. Root emphasized that external observers, including Pietersen, lack insight into the team’s internal processes since they don’t attend training sessions.  

England’s struggles in ODIs have extended to three consecutive series losses, including defeats to India, West Indies, and Australia. Their form casts a shadow over their Champions Trophy 2025 opener against Australia in Lahore on Saturday, February 22. Pietersen, commentating during the India tour, accused the squad of prioritizing golf over net practice. 

Root hits back at Pietersen

Earlier, Pietersen was found criticising England after their shameful loss in India ODIs, saying, “I get it, these are the best times of your life...but by crikey, you get paid to score runs. You get paid to win games of cricket, you don’t get paid to play golf."

Ahead of the crucial clash with Australia, Root addressed Kevin Pietersen's harsh criticism of England's training regime.    

“They don’t come to training. They don’t see what we do and how we operate,” Root said as quoted by BBC Sport. 

England’s batting woes in India were highlighted by players like Root, Ben Duckett, and Phil Salt failing to convert starts into centuries. Despite the challenges, Root remains confident in the squad’s ability to rebound.  

“I think we’ve got the right players. It’s just going to take something different. There isn’t that opportunity to do that (play as regularly) nowadays, but it doesn’t mean we can’t be as successful as that team. There’s just different challenges that we’re going to have to overcome.”  

Root roots for England's comeback on the big stage

Joe Root stressed the importance of leveraging experience to accelerate growth and also gave a sneak peek on how they can do it as a team and rebound in the Champions Trophy.

“Can we find a way to speed that process up by having good, smart conversations and using our experience and share them so that when you get to the crunch moments within big games, you get the team across the line? I think we’ve got the right players that are able to do that, and we’ve certainly got the talent.”  

England, led by Jos Buttler, will aim to replicate their 2017 Champions Trophy campaign, where they reached the semifinals under Eoin Morgan before falling to eventual champions Pakistan.