After a humiliating defeat, the English team is going through a challenging phase. Some players have been dropped and this might open the door for potential performers.
Root felt lucky to retain his position when the director of cricket Ashley Giles, head coach Chris Silverwood, and batting coach Graham Thorpe were all fired.
Root, on the other hand, was spared the fate of the three former England cricketers and permitted to remain as captain.
However, cricket observers and experts have held a different view on this decision. The speculations have been made that there is no alternate option for captaincy. And adding the extra burden of captaincy on the shoulders of Ben Stokes might backfire in his performance as an all-rounder.
The new interim director Andrew Strauss spared the Yorkshire batsman. However, Root is acquainted with the fact this could have gone the other way.
In such a case, the three-match test series against the West Indies becomes a defining series in his career. He has full sympathy for the coaching staff that has been fired over the lifeless performance in Australia.
“It’s never good to watch individuals you’ve worked closely with for a long time lose their jobs,” Root remarked before the departure of a new-look team for the Caribbean on Thursday.
England will head to the West Indies without their two all-time top bowlers in the format, James Anderson and Stuart Broad. They were both controversially overlooked after a record of just one win in 14 Tests.
The English side featured uncapped fast bowlers Saqib Mahmood and Matt Fisher, as well as leg-spinner Matt Parkinson.
England is in the process of becoming only the second England side to win a Test series in the West Indies since 1968.
Joe Root has been encouraged to climb back up the order by a 2021 tally of 1,708 Test runs. It is an all-time best English record in a calendar year and the third most by anybody after Pakistan’s Mohammad Yousuf and West Indies’ Viv Richards.