Image Credit- AP
Joe Root expresses his hurt at England’s current
position atop the World Cup group stage table following five losses in six
games. However, he is certain that they can defeat Australia in Ahmedabad on
Saturday. On Thursday, he declared, “Man for man, I’d have this team over
the Australians every day.”
Although England is mathematically still in the
running for the semi-finals, a sixth loss to their Ashes rivals this weekend
might definitively seal their elimination from the group stage. In order to
salvage some respect and earn a spot in the 2025 Champions Trophy, Root stated
that England would need to treat the match as “our World Cup final”.
“I look at this team and it’s more than capable
of achieving way more than it has done throughout this tournament,” Root
said. “The quality of players we have, we should be sat right at the top
of this [table]. We all know that, and we’re all very frustrated that isn’t the
case.
“This group of players have three opportunities
to […] play at the level we expect of ourselves: I fully believe we are more
than capable of doing that on Saturday. Man for man, I’d have this team every
day over the Australians. We might not have played as well as we can do but we
know when we play our best stuff, the best teams struggle to compete with us.
“We have to remember that and take that into the
next couple of days: both in physical practice and mentally, [we have to] make
sure we’re in that frame of mind to take on Australia, which is what it’s about
for us now. We’ve just got to look at Saturday as our World Cup final and play
in the manner that’s expected of us and we expect of ourselves.”