You’re Clark Kent, Joe, so stop trying to be Superman!

Many people were blaming Joe Root for creating England’s car crash of a collapse in Bangalore, and they may be right. Root’s role, at least in England’s white-ball team, has been to bat through the innings with others playing more expansively around him.

It has generally worked well and almost to perfection in the T20 in Nagpur until Root was incorrectly given out lbw in the final over. For some reason, though, Root departed from the script in the final game, attempting to be Superman when most of his success has come being Clark Kent.

Some batsmen just cannot slog and Root looks like he might be one of them. Apparently he has been working with Graham Thorpe, one of England’s batting coaches, on expanding his repertoire of big shots, but when you have grown up learning to use the pace of the ball for your timing it can be difficult to suddenly turn into a clouting lout.

One of Root’s endearing characteristics is that he likes a challenge, though by trying to clear the ropes in Bangalore he missed out on opportunities to give the strike to Morgan who does possess the means to hit boundaries, as he showed with three sixes in an over from Suresh Raina.

The curious thing is that Root is an intelligent cricketer and would have known this, and yet he still persisted in trying to claim the macho role for himself. It just goes to show that even the most level-headed can be victims of pressure and the ever-present imperative to expand one’s game.

There is room for all sorts in a team and Root, who still had a strike rate of over 110 in the match, is still worth a place playing to his strengths.