I’m living the dream of my childhood, captaining England: Skipper Joe Root

Joe Root has hailed his players and praised those who have helped him time and time again after surpassing fellow Yorkshireman Michael Vaughan to become the most successful England captain in test cricket.

England hammered India by an innings and 76 runs in the third Test to level five-match series at 1-1 and earn Root his 27th Test win as skipper. Root has now broken Michael Vaughan’s record for the most Test wins as England captain. Vaughan had won 26 Tests as captain of the team between 2003 and 2008.

Root took over England’s captaincy from Alastair Cook on February 13, 2017, and as of now, he has 19 draws and seven losses to his name in addition to the 27 wins.

“I’m living my boyhood dream, captaining England,” Root said. “Something I dreamed of doing from being really small. Great group of players, who are very talented and dedicated to becoming better all the time.

“Couldn’t be more proud, proud to have gone past Michael. But you don’t do that on your own as a captain, it’s down to the group of players and the coaching staff as well. It’s all one big thing. You’re the one making the decisions but they are the ones going out and time and time again putting in performances. And really proud of the way they have done that this week.”

Root pointed that England’s series-leveling win in the third Test at Headingley was clinical in nature and said he was looking forward to a “belting end to the series” in the final two matches.

“It was almost the perfect storm, everything seemed to fall our way. Perfect little nicks to the keeper got us off to a great start, it was a brilliant bowling performance. We found our lengths, exploited the wicket really well. And that opening partnership [between Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed] to set things up was almost a turning point in the game for me.