England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has barred their Test skipper Joe Root to participate in the next season of the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) next year. They will be hosting the ICC Cricket World Cup next year followed by the much-awaited prestigious Ashes and hence the board expecting their best cricketer to stay fit for both the tournaments. However, they have granted him the permission to play in the Big Bash League (BBL) for Sydney Thunder along with his Jos Buttler.

According to the reports in Dailymail, ECB and the team management is worried about managing the workload of the players ahead of the grueling 2019 home season which is the reason Root’s name will not be auctioned in the IPL 2019 auction. He was one of the most discussed names this year but none of the eight franchises bid for him and England’s Test skipper went unsold.

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However, Joe Root’s T20 career hasn’t been as good as expected as he has been under scrutiny more often than not. He was dropped from the playing XI for the third and deciding T20I against India recently and since then there have been talks of him playing only ODIs and T20Is. However, Root has no doubts about himself as a T20 batsman as he is arguably one of England’s best batsmen in other two formats. 

In a bid to prove the same, Joe has also signed a contract with Sydney Thunder franchise and he will get to play 7 matches for them in the upcoming BBL season. He will be keen to prove his worth in the shortest format of the game make a statement with his scintillating batting in the competition.

Currently, Root has played 28 T20Is for England and scored runs at a decent strike rate of 128.59. Moreover, he has struggled to force the pace when it requires the most and it remains to be seen if he manages to meet the demands of T20 cricket.