England’s veteran batter Joe Root believes that they must avoid panicking despite a thumping defeat in the 2023 World Cup opener to New Zealand on Thursday, October 5, in Ahmedabad. The experienced batter stated that England can still win the World Cup as they did in 2019 after hitting numerous roadblocks as well.

Speaking to BBC Sport after the game, he said, “It’s always easy to look at things when they don’t quite come off, but it enforces the way we are as a team and we want to go about our cricket in that way. We won’t be seeing guys chipping it to mid-wicket or mid-off next game, they’ll be hitting it 20 rows back. It’s important that we stay calm. Look at us in 2019, we had hiccups throughout. When we do hit a bump in the road, we are a team that comes back strong and we double down on our identity.”

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However, Joe Root’s form with the bat was one of the positives for England in the game as he top-scored with 77. However, the likes of Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, and Jos Buttler failed to convert their promising starts into big scores as well.

“I don’t think there’s ever been a World Cup-winning side that hasn’t had a bump in the road or a stumble along the way. We’ve just got to stay level and authentic to what we are as a team. On that pitch, after we batted, I thought we were about par or maybe just below. But the conditions just changed considerably,” he concluded.