Felt like a Zombie: Joe Root on why he quit England Captaincy
England Test captaincy gripped Joe Root to the point where he couldn’t enjoy time with his family and felt like a ‘zombie.’ Root stepped down as captain earlier this year after losing consecutive series to Australia and the West Indies.
Joe Root said that being England captain took a toll on him, causing him to obsess about incidents over which he had no control or that had already occurred. There is a widespread belief that captaincy may be a significant challenge for any in-form cricketer.
Joe Root had an extraordinary career as the longest-serving captain of the England team, but the pressure quickly began to wear him down.
After losing back-to-back series against Australia and the West Indies, he opted to step down as captain, letting Ben Stokes take over. Root discussed how the captaincy affected him in a recent interview.
Joe Root discusses the influence of his England captaincy on his private life.
Joe Root claimed in an interview with Dailymail that being England captain affected him in such a manner that he kept thinking about incidents over which he had no control or that had already occurred in the past.
He said, “The captaincy was starting to take a toll on me. It was getting to the point where I wasn’t really present at home. 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 realize that that had been the case for a little while.”
He continued by saying, “I was there but 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.”
Root claims that the burden was obvious in his children’s frustrations. “I could see it frustrating the kids because I wasn’t properly playing with them or I was talking to Carrie and I would zone out. 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,” he recalled.
Root, on the other hand, admits that he enjoyed performing it, but lacked the drive and perspective to accomplish it well.
“It was a very difficult decision (stepping down) because it is such a fantastic role to get the honour to do and I loved doing it. I was also trying to make the right decision not just for myself but most importantly for what the team required at that point,” he said.
“I didn’t feel like I had the energy or the right outlook on things to be able to do that properly. As hard as it was to give up the captaincy, as soon as I had done it, I did feel so much better for it and have done ever since,” he added.
Captaincy record of Joe Root.
Joe Root maintains the record for most matches won as England Men’s Test captain. With 27 triumphs, he outnumbers Michael Vaughan (26), Sir Alastair Cook, and Sir Andrew Strauss (24 each).
He is England’s second-highest Test run scorer of all time, after only Cook, and has 14 hundreds to his name as captain. His 5,295 runs as captain are the most by any England captain and place him fifth all-time behind only Graeme Smith, Alan Border, Ricky Ponting, and Virat Kohli.
