England captain Joe Root will miss the IPL mega auction to prioritize the English Test team after their loss by a scoreline of 4-0 in the recently concluded Ashes series. Root had said last week that he was considering participating in IPL in case it will not distract him from his Test career.

Ashes 2021-22 turned out to be a nightmare for England as they lost the series by 4-0. They were outperformed in all departments by Australia and lost the series as a result. England captain Joe Root had said last week that he was considering entering the mega auction but would participate in the tournament only if it doesn’t distract him from his Test career. Root was unsold in the 2018 auction. 

Root has now said that he wants to prioritize English Test team and will ‘Sacrifice’ opportunity to enter IPL auction. 

There’s a lot that we need to do for this team, which deserves all of my energy,” Root said at the post-match conference after the final Ashes Test. 

“I’ll keep sacrificing as much as I can because I care so much about Test cricket in our country and trying to get us to where we want to be.”

England’s poor performance in Test cricket this year has drawn harsh criticism over Joe Root’s captaincy. Root insists that he is the right candidate to captain the England cricket team.

“It’s very difficult when you get beaten as heavily as we have done on this tour to convince people I’m the right man,” he explained. 

“But I can tell you one thing for sure – as long as I have the opportunity to captain this team, I will throw everything into it and give everything – for everyone supporting us, for the guys around me, for the players – to try and provide an environment that allows us to be successful,” Root said.

IPL will be a 10-team competition from this season as two new franchises have been added. The mega auction for the season will be held on February 12 and 13 in Bengaluru.