'It is not the right way...': Joe Root shares his views on England's 'Bazball' approach ahead of India Test series

The five-match Test series between England and India is set to kick-off from June 20 with the first game to be played at Headingley in Leeds. The series will be quite important for both the sides as it will kick-off the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. The hosts will be looking to dominate over the Men in Blue, who will be without both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma and additionally will be captained by Shubman Gill, who has never lead the team in red-ball cricket before.

Root has adapted well to the 'Bazball' approach

Ahead of the much-anticipated series, Root opened up on England's 'Bazball' approach which came into prominence after Brendon McCullum was named as their head coach back in 2022. Though the method can be simply defined as an ultra-aggressive batting approach, Root feels that there is a lot more to it.

"It has become the most fun time of my career. Playing the way we play, the environment that has been created. The job Ben and [head coach] Brendon [McCullum] have done has been fabulous, and so much fun has come with it," Root told Sky Sports.

"It might not always get reported how it actually is - I don't think Bazball is the right way to describe it. It has clearly been a big change and is different to how a lot of teams play, but there is a lot more method to it than is probably perceived," he added.

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Root can turn out to be a massive headache for the Indian team throughout the upcoming Test series. The 34-year-old England batter is in fine form in not just Tests, but one-day cricket as well and played an incredible knock of 166 against the West Indies during the second ODI of the thee-match series.

Root, who has played a total of 153 Tests so far, recently surpassed the 13,000-run mark in the format with his inning of 34 against Zimbabwe in May. The batter will definitely be looking to score many more runs in the gruelling assignment against India.

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England squad for first Test against India: Ben Stokes (Captain), Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Sam Cook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes.