Joe Root’s brilliant 2021 run gets recognition: Named Wisden’s leading cricketer in the world

Joe Root has recently been in the news as he stepped down from the role of the captaincy of England’s Test team. He has led the Three-Lions in an English record of 64 tests. He also has the record for the most number of Test wins as captain of England with 27 victories.

Root is again in news but this time for a recognition of his brilliant performance in the 2021 season. In the Wisden Cricketer’s Almanack published on Thursday, he has been named as the Leading Cricketer. This comes after Root scored 1,708 runs at an average of 61.00 in 15 Tests in 2021. But Root failed to avoid England’s run of only one victory in the last 17 tests with his stellar performance.

As quoted by ESPNcricinfo, the Wisden editor Lawrence Booth said- “Root rose above the struggles of England’s Test side to produce one of the all-time great performances in a calendar year. His 1708 runs have been beaten only by Mohammad Yousuf in 2006 and Viv Richard in 1976 and included six hundreds. And he scored his runs in his fifth year as England captain, at which point many of his predecessors had already called it a day.”

Notably, Jasprit Bumrah and Rohit Sharma have been named among Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year. This is an honor that a player can win only once in his playing career and is principally determined by his impact on the English home season.

“Jasprit Bumrah was central to India’s two Test wins last summer, taking three for 33 on the final afternoon at Lords, the thrillingly bowling Ollie Pope and Jonny Bairstow in successive overs to hasten his team to victory at The Oval. Had rain not washed out the last day of the First Test at Trent Bridge, his nine wickets there that might have led to an Indian win, too. In all, he managed 18 wickets a 20 apiece in the four Tests, and scored some unexpected-and crucial-tailend runs.”- said Booth on Bumrah’s nomination.