Joe Root has been signed to play in the International League T20 for Dubai Capitals in January and February. Root, who was left out of the England ODI squad for South Africa announced earlier on Thursday, will be making only his second appearance in an overseas T20 league.
England's leading Test batter, Root has not been involved with the T20I side since 2019 but has made no secret of his desire to continue developing his game in the shortest format. He is on the list for Friday's IPL auction and the link with Capitals - part of the franchise run by Delhi Capitals joint-owners, GMR Group - will not hurt his chances of being picked up.
Root remains a key part of England's ODI set-up but has been granted some time off the international treadmill ahead of the Test team's tour of New Zealand in February.
The consistency that we were -ing for
— Dubai Capitals (@Dubai_Capitals) December 22, 2022
Joe, you definitely know everything when it comes to
Welcome, @root66 #ILT20 #ALeagueApart #DubaiCapitals #SoarHighDubai #WeAreCapitals #CapitalsUniverse #GMRGroup #GMRSports @ILT20Official pic.twitter.com/idaprLnHmb
He confirmed his involvement in the IPL auction last month, having previously gone unsold in 2018. Root's T20 opportunities have been limited in recent years, in part because of the demands of the Test captaincy that he held between 2017 and 2022, with only a BBL stint with Sydney Sixer in 2018-19 to go alongside occasional appearances for Yorkshire and Trent Rockets in the Hundred.
Having helped England to the final of the 2016 World T20, scoring an audacious 83 off 44 in a record run chase against South Africa during the group stage, Root fell out of contention due to the rise of Dawid Malan, who plays a similar anchor role in the top order. His last T20I came against Pakistan at Cardiff in the lead-up to the 2019 50-over World Cup.
Dubai Capitals announced earlier this week that they had signed former India internationals Robin Uthappa and Yusuf Pathan, and the squad, which will be coached by Phil Simmons, includes current players such as Rovman Powell, Fabian Allen and Sikandar Raza, as well as another Englishman in Dan Lawrence.