Former England captain Joe Root hasn’t been able to participate in the Indian Premier League (IPL) due to national commitments over the years, but this time he is free from the captaincy burden.
During his recent interview with Daily Mail, Root revealed that he is seriously considering putting his name in the upcoming IPL 2023 auction and is hopeful of getting exposure in the world’s biggest T20 extravaganza.
Notably, the mini-auction for IPL 2023 is scheduled to take place in Kochi on December 23.
“I would certainly debate going into the IPL draw quite seriously and hope to get exposure in that tournament. It would be great to get involved in the continuous enormity of each game and how much it means,” Root was quoted as saying to dailymail.co.uk.
31-year-old Root, who has played 32 T20I matches for England since making his debut in 2012, also made it clear that he has no plans to retire from limited-overs cricket anytime soon.
“I have no thoughts or feelings of retirement or slowing down or playing fewer formats. If anything, I feel a little bit more freedom with my time. I always used to get rested for the T20s and I feel like I got alienated from the format because I had not played enough of it. You can feel like you are getting left behind a little bit. Now, the next couple of years, might be a good time to explore playing a little bit more of that format and see how far I can take that side of my game,” he added.
Root entered the 2018 IPL auction but went unsold as none of the franchises showed interest in acquiring his services. He then planned to put his name up for the IPL 2022 mega auction but eventually dropped the idea saying that he would play in the tournament only if it doesn’t distract him from red-ball cricket.