Joe Root stepping down as captain of the England cricket team didn’t come as a surprise at all. Just like for an Indian captain to survive a defeat against Pakistan is well-nigh impossible, so also for an Englishman to stay on after a massive loss in the Ashes series in Australia is very rare. What didn’t help Root was that soon after the pounding in Australia, the England team went to West Indies and lost there too. Now with the greatest of respect to the men from the Caribbean, their Test team is no longer the fearsome one of the previous century. For England to lose to them meant that there is something seriously wrong with their cricket.

Yes, the selection of the squad where two bowlers with over 1,100 Test match wickets between them were left out, did not help, but here again with the coach sacked after the Australia disaster and the selection committee itself not certain which way to go, Root may have felt he was being cornered from all sides. What must have been the last straw on the camel’s back would be to see that some of his ardent supporters from the former England captains and cricketers also being firm in their view that he should go and make way for someone else. Who that someone is going to be will probably be known in the next couple of weeks, but if ever the saying, a captain is only good as his team is, applies to any team then it’s England.