The legendary player Kumar Sangakkara, claims that Joe Root is an exceptional player, and was startled to learn that he got dismissed through stumping for the first time in his Test Career on day 4 of the first Test of the Ashes 2023, at Edgbaston on Monday 19th June.
Barring Joe Root, none of the other batters was able to consume more than 50 runs, he played phenomenally in the second innings. Root has smacked 11,168 runs in Test Format before being dismissed by a stumping, the second highest in the list behind Shiv Chanderpaul, who scored 11,414 Test runs before being stumped for the first time.
“Under the new culture in England where he takes more risks and tries to up the ante..” – Kumar Sangakkara
Kumar Sangakkara opines that Root is an outstanding player, he played well even in spin-friendly countries like India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. He mentioned while talking to Sky Cricket:
“That’s just incredible, it’s amazing, but we’ll see more of that from now on under the new culture in England where he takes more risks and tries to up the ante. In the past years, he was very satisfied playing within himself, within the crease. What an exceptional player, but even with all of that, just to be stumped once having played in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka.” said Kumar Sangakkara.
“It’s just absolutely amazing, just shows what a high-quality player of spin he is, and that’s not something that has always been the case with England, but he has just been magnificent.” Joe Root said.
Joe Root And Steve Smith On ‘Fab 4’ Of Kumar Sangakkara
Alongside, Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson, Sangakkara added Joe Root and Steve Smith in his top 4 players. All of them have exceptional statistics in Test Format. Sangakkara Mentions while talking to Sky Cricket:
“You watch the Kohli’s, the Smiths, Williamson. I think, for me, right now in world cricket, Joe Root and Steve Smith just a cut above, at the moment.” said Kumar Sangakkara.
As far as Test centuries are concerned, Smith and Root lead the top two places with 31 and 30 tons, respectively. Meanwhile, Kane Williamson and Virat Kohli have scored 28 hundreds each.
Also read: Ashes 2023: “I Think Boland’s Got To Play..” Says Allan Border