You'd be forgiven for thinking Joe Root had placed himself firmly in the red-ball corner. After becoming England's Test captain in 2017, and subsequently their highest run-scorer in the format, he has only played eight of a possible 108 T20Is and 40 out of a possible 134 Blast and Hundred games. But it wasn't that Root has shunned the shortest format; it's that he couldn't fit in into his schedule.
"It [the rise of T20s] coincided with becoming England captain," Root says in Paarl during the SA20. "When you're the Test captain, the schedule that we have and the amount of Test cricket we play, and with there being the 50-over World Cup in 2019, a lot of the white-ball build-up was focused around getting ready for that. It meant that if I ever had a rest, I missed out on T20 cricket. And then other guys came in and performed exceptionally well and I found myself on the outside of the team in that format, and that's not anyone else's fault. It's just the way it panned out for me. It's nice now to get the opportunity to play the format again, and hopefully more and more in the future as well."
A rare January off for England's Test side, and the promise of a summer in Paarl, known for its wineries and golf courses, called Root to the SA20, where he has rediscovered his short-format game. After the eight matches he played, Root was the tournament's third-highest run-scorer, and he has been among the most successful opening pairs of the group stage, by runs and average, with 18-year old Lhuan-dre Pretorius.
Watching them together has been the perfect mix of yin and yang. At first Root let Pretorius play with the freedom that comes with being a surprise factor, but as the games went on and the opposition became more familiar with the youngster, Root showed the value of his experience. His match-winning 92 not out in the tournament's highest successful chase was also his joint career best and a masterclass in pacing an innings.
"You need big partnerships when you're chasing big scores like that, but ultimately it's about staying calm and understanding by breaking it down what it's going to look like," he says. "I haven't actually played a lot, so it's been a case of trying to recall the things that you've done well and trying to do them as consistently as possible, but also understanding that your game evolves. The T20 format has also evolved a lot but you're playing the game of cricket and it's about problem-solving, just on a much quicker scale than what I've been doing the majority of the time."
Root contributed one more half-century, a stunning 78 not out on a slow pitch at Paarl's home ground, Boland Park, where his run-scoring ability was on full display. In that knock, Root showed off everything from footwork and creative use of the crease to his signature ramps and reverse sweeps. Brendon McCullum, now embarking on his expanded role as England's head coach across all formats, has shown faith in Root's white-ball game by recalling him for the Champions Trophy. He will have liked what he has seen this past month.
Root arrived in India last week ahead of his first ODIs since the 2023 World Cup, and will have a key role in helping his "brilliant" coach translate his transformative Test approach to England's white-ball game.
"Whether it's helping Jos [Buttler] out or the younger batters, whatever it is, I'm just trying to give as much as I can," he says.
The mantra of aggression and entertainment that has been such a feature of England's Test exploits is not as simplistic or brutish as it seems, he says. "There's quite a lot of misconceptions about the way the Test team plays now. We don't go out there and tell [the batters] we've got to score at five an over, or we've got to be really aggressive. The players that are selected are naturally forward-thinking cricketers that like to put pressure on the bowlers and like to score quite quickly.
"Someone like Ben Duckett's leave percentage is something like 3. You know they're going to want to hit the ball, you know they're going to want to score runs. Baz encourages you to bring the best out of yourself. If that is to be a little bit more aggressive, then so be it. It's about, if you get the opportunity to get ahead in the game, or to take someone off their length, or try and nullify a certain danger, then do it. And he gives you that freedom and that opportunity to take that on. There's no repercussions to it."
Giving players the licence to decide how they want to go about their game is one of the best things McCullum has done for the England change room, according to Root. He hopes that will spread from the Test arena to the other formats.
"It's to manage the situation to the best of your ability within your own game," he says. "He's very good at allowing players to do that. You've seen it's brought the best out of a number of those young guys, in particular. For a period, they weren't probably getting the best out of themselves. They're really thriving now in that format. Hopefully that can be exactly the same in the white-ball stuff."
Root also credits McCullum with broadening his own perspective and encouraging him to be more instinctive and less academic about the way he bats.
"He's opened my eyes to looking at the game slightly differently, which at 31 or 32 years old, when Baz came in, is a really refreshing thing," he says. "To marry that with the experience that I already had was really quite exciting. I feel it's added quite a lot to my own game, about how you look at managing different bowlers.
"Whether it's where you stand, or whether you create an angle. It's about being proactive and trying to get ahead of the game in many respects. Before that, generally, I'd be quite technical and start thinking about shoulders, feet, head, whatever - whereas I think Baz's big strength is very situation-based in the way that he thinks about the game, which I think is brilliant."
Playing to the situation is what Root has done in South Africa, most surprisingly, perhaps, with ball in hand. Paarl play in the driest and lowest conditions of the tournament and Root became an important part of their attack. He bowled in six of the eight matches he played, a total of 19 overs, and took five wickets for 133 runs at an economy of 7. "It's been quite nice to offer something else rather than just runs up top," he says.
Might he also turn his arm over in India and then Pakistan? "I'm not sure. We'll see when we get there. The fact that I'm getting opportunities to bowl as well, that's been really nice to have going into the tournament, especially getting into subcontinental conditions.
"All you want to do is give your captain more options," he adds. "So if someone's having a rough time of it or being targeted, then it's another option. If there's a really good match-up, then you never know, you might get an opportunity. More than anything, if it can help balance the side or if it can give you more options within the innings, then that can only be a good thing."
With runs, overs, wickets and game time, golf time and family time (Root's wife and kids were in South Africa for a holiday pre-tournament), the SA20 has been the perfect lead-up for Root's ODI return, even if he doesn't want to look at it that way.
"Exposure to white-ball cricket leading into the tournament is a good thing. But it's not like I'm here to prepare for that," he says. "I'm here to play T20 cricket, to win and help this team do well."
No one can accuse Root of not doing that. Thanks to his input, Paarl qualified for the playoffs with two matches to spare and then opted not to play him in the last game for which he was available, so that they could test their resources upcountry.
There, in a loss at the Wanderers, he was a true team man, carrying drinks, taking messages and having sideline chats. He left for India after that match and will not be with Paarl for the business end.
Though disappointed, Root knows where his responsibilities really lie. "When you commit to doing something, you want to see it through and be there for the whole tournament, but at the same time, playing for England and international cricket is always the pinnacle of the sport," he says. "And leading into the Champions Trophy, three ODIs will be really useful for us to be together as a group and try and get us in a really good place before we head into that tournament."
So no, Root has not placed himself in the red-ball corner, but in the one that he believes will serve his country best.