Joe Root and his England side might be dead last in the World Cup table right now, but the emotions that run between them and their rivals Australia are always at a fever-high.
Root, who has personally had a dismal showing at the World Cup this year, still took to the Aussies, claiming that he would rather still play with his current England side than prefer Australia’s squad.
Australia, similar to England, had an abysmal start to their World Cup 2023 campaign, losing two straight games out the gate to the likes of India and South Africa. But, unlike the English, the Aussies and in particular, their opener David Warner, hit their stride and have since been putting up dominating wins to props themselves up to third place in the table currently.
ICC World Cup: Schedule | Results | Points Table | Most Runs | Most Wickets
Up next, the two Ashes rivals will face off against each other in the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, and Root, despite the stark differences in their realities, still showed unrelenting faith in his English side.
“Man for man, I’d have this team every day over the Australians,” Root said, with a panache and a stern arrogance that has been largely missing from the England side since they touched down in India.
“We might not have played as well as we can do but we know when we play our best stuff the best teams struggle to compete with us.
“I look at this team and it’s more than capable of achieving way more than it has done throughout this tournament. With the quality of players we have, we should be sat right at the top of this table. We all know that and we’re all very frustrated that isn’t the case.”
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That sure is not the case indeed, as England currently lie at the lowest spot in the table with just one mere win out of six matches, and a NRR of -1.652, the worst of any team in the tournament.
Root though still believes that salvation is around the corner, and that taking it one match at a time, starting with their face-off against the Aussies, will reap some reward.
“We’ve just got to look at Saturday as our World Cup final and play in the manner that’s expected of us and we expect of ourselves.
“We have massively underachieved to date and have three opportunities to show the world what we are capable of doing and what I know we are capable of doing,” said a hopeful Root.
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