'Does Not Quite Line up Jasprit Bumrah': England's 'Greatest Batter' Joe Root Hasn't Figured Out How to Manage Star India Bowler

Joe Root on Wednesday created history when he surpassed Alastair Cook to become England’s most prolific Test batter. Root achieved the feat during the ongoing first Test against Pakistan in Multan that saw him scored a hundred as well. The 33-year-old is now the fifth highest run-getter in Test history behind Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis and Rahul Dravid.

For former captain Michael Vaughan, Root is England’s greatest batter who doesn’t have any major technical deficiency. However, Vaughan did point out Root’s one big nemesis, India’s Jasprit Bumrah, a bowler he still hasn’t quite worked out.

“To be as good as he (Root) is you have to pick up the ball so quickly out of the hand, which gives him that extra bit of time. The only bowler he does not quite line up is Jasprit Bumrah, I reckon, but who does? He will already be working on that and thinking about how to manage him next summer,” Vaughan wrote in his column for The Telegraph on Wednesday.

For the record, Bumrah has dismissed Root the most time in his Test career so far. The two superstars have come face to face in 24 innings with Bumrah dismissing Root nine times.

Vaughan feels there’s no ‘obvious way’ in which Root can be dismissed as bowlers are relying on the Englishman to commit a mistake instead.

“While there have been little technical foibles over the years, he has just about done that, and there is no obvious way to get him out, against pace or spin. At the moment, bowlers are waiting for him to make a mistake,” he wrote.

Vaughan also feels there hasn’t been a better England batter than Root who has managed to succeed in different forms of the game.

“Root is already cricketing royalty and there is no doubt in my eyes that he has become England’s greatest batsman already. No one has played the different forms of the game better than him, and he has got the runs to show for it,” Vaughan wrote.

Vaughan is also confident that should Root play long enough, he will surpass the legendary Tendulkar’s all-time record of most Test runs.

“If he (Root) plays as long as I am sure he will, he will overtake Sachin Tendulkar and be the leading Test run-scorer. More than just being a great player, he does it all with a smile on his face, and is simply the greatest example for young kids to follow,” he wrote.