England captain Jos Buttler believes Joe Root will play a “crucial role” in India on his ODI return and as they build up to the Champions Trophy this month.

The visitors went down 4-1 in the preceding T20I series and now face India in three ODI matches starting with Thursday’s opener in Nagpur.

The 34-year-old Root, a top-order batsman and England’s former Test captain, last played an ODI at the 2023 World Cup in India and will now take field as England named their XI on the eve of the match.

“He’ll bat No 3,” Buttler told reporters of Root, who was not involved in the T20I series. “He’s one of the great players of the game, so in all the formats here he’s obviously been a vital part of ODI cricket for England for a long time.

“I’m excited to see him in this sort of phase of his career where he’s done in the Tests, where he’s not had the captaincy, sort of back with that cheeky smile on his face and really enjoying his cricket … he’s got a crucial role for us.”

The India matches come ahead of the Champions Trophy, the premier ODI tournament after the World Cup. It starts on 19 February and is hosted by Pakistan and Dubai.

“Obviously the Champions Trophy is just around the corner so it’s great to play against the top side,” Buttler said.

England are known for their aggressive brand of cricket with coach Brendon McCullum and Test skipper Ben Stokes adopting an attacking “Bazball” strategy even in the five-day format.

McCullum is coaching England for the first time in white-ball cricket and wants to bring the same fearless approach.

“If I look back at that World Cup, the two teams in the final were playing a really positive and aggressive round of cricket,” Buttler said of the 2023 ODI final, in which Australia beat hosts India.

Buttler weighed in on the future of 50-over cricket, which has taken a hit because of the popularity of the T20 format.

“It’s certainly been pushed a little bit towards the margins in the recent years,” said Buttler. “But I still believe if you talk to guys about winning a World Cup, they’d probably say a 50-over World Cup ahead of a T20 World Cup.”

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Photo: Visionhaus/Getty Images

England legend Joe Root is hoping to bid farewell to the Paarl Royals on a high note at the Wanderers on Thursday.

Root has been a revelation in his maiden SA20 season for the Royals, striking 279 runs at an average of 55.80, contributing five wickets at the miserly economy of 7.00, and playing a crucial mentoring role to his teenage opening partner Lhuan-dre Pretorius, who tops the overall run-scorers charts.

The 34-year-old, who is regarded as one of the finest batsmen of his generation, is set to return to international duty after tonight’s clash against the Joburg Super Kings.

“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every minute of being here,” Root said. “Both on and off the field. We’ve got a great group of lads who have welcomed me and brilliantly made me feel a massive part of everything we’ve done both on and off the field.

“But of course I’ll miss the latter stages of the tournament, although I’ll be keeping an eye on how the guys do.

“I think one of the great things about this is you can make friends for life and you can meet people that you’d never come across before and all of a sudden, you’ve got friends that will last a lifetime.”

Root has helped propel the Royals to a record-breaking five-game home winning streak that has the Boland Park-based team sit pretty at the top of the SA20 table with passage secured for the first playoff qualifier against Western Cape neighbours MI Cape Town at St George’s Park in Gqeberha on Tuesday.

The winner of this match has a direct pathway to the much-anticipated final at the Wanderers on Sunday, 8 February.

The Joburg Super Kings, meanwhile, are on 15 points and find themselves locked in a three-way mid-table battle with the Sunrisers Eastern Cape (19 points) and Pretoria Capitals (14) for the two remaining playoff berths.

The Super Kings will be hoping to bounce back from a crushing Jukskei derby defeat to the Capitals and possibly spoil Root’s farewell to keep themselves in contention.

“We go home now for two games. Our record at home has been very good. So we get some comfort from that,” said Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming.

“A lot of it is mental at this point. Changes can help, but often continuity and backing people can work as well. But we’ve got to play better. It’s as simple as that.

“But we’re in the race just to try and qualify now. Three teams, in particular, that are really going to hunt hard. So yeah, all I’m worried about is an improvement in performance in the next game. And if we’re good enough, we’ll get through.”

Photo: Ron Gaunt/Sportzpics

Newlands is all dressed up and ready to open its gates to this season’s SA20 with Trent Boult and Joe Root set to play a prominent role on Monday evening.

The MI Cape Town faithful have been waiting in great anticipation to see the likes of captain Rashid Khan, Trent Boult, Kagiso Rabada, Dewald Brevis, the red-hot Delano Potgieter and local boy George Linde amongst others in action on home turf.

They will have that opportunity now with the blockbuster Western Cape derby between MI Cape Town and local rivals Paarl Royals kickstarting the action at Newlands.

MICT hold the bragging rights with the two wins over the Royals’ one in previous SA20 derby clashes.

Opening bowler Boult will no doubt have to play a role in helping MI Cape Town preserve their record, but the New Zealand superstar is still pinching himself about his return to one of the great citadels of world cricket.

“It’s going to be great to have our first home game of the season,” Boult said. “It’s one of the most iconic, picturesque grounds in the world, so it’s a great place to play some cricket.”

Boult has already shown his world-class ability to swing the new ball upfront in MICT’s previous two matches against the Sunrisers Eastern Cape and Joburg Super Kings where the left-armer knocked over high-players such as England international Zak Crawley and his former Black Caps teammate Devon Conway.

Another fascinating duel awaits at Newlands on Monday with Boult going head-to-head against England’s highest-ever Test run-scorer Joe Root.

“Do I have something special for him [Root]? Yes, probably,” Boult said with a laugh. “No, no. Joe is a guy who I’ve played a lot of cricket against as well as a couple of other players in that team.

“We had a little practice game, warm-up game against them a few days back and they’re a quality side.

“They had a good start to the tournament as well so there’s going to be all to play for.”

Equally, Root has already made significant impact for the Royals with an undefeated half-century on debut while guiding teenager star Lhuan-dre Pretorius out in the middle during their outstanding 132-run opening stand against the Sunrisers Eastern Cape.

The Yorkshireman certainly relishes being in South Africa for his maiden SA20 safari.

“I love the atmosphere. The support was amazing. I knew that would be the case coming into it, knowing Jos [Buttler] and Jason [Roy],” Root said. “I love being back here in South Africa. Love being part of SA20. Looking forward to the rest of the competition.”

Photo: Ron Gaunt/Sportzpics

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