Michael Vaughan slams Darren Lehmann for questioning Joe Root’s greatness

“What a load of nonsense,” Vaughan said on SEN Mornings in response to Lehmann.

“We’re talking about a player that could quite easily – if he stays fit and that back stays strong – surpass Sachin Tendulkar in a few years (for overall Test runs).

“Just because he’s not got a hundred here in Australia, this isn’t the be-all and end-all.

“You’d like to come here, and score runs. But he’ll come next year in the way that he’s playing in this England side now at four – playing the Joe Root way rather than the Bazball way – I’ve got a sneaky feeling that might come back to haunt Darren next year.

“He might get a couple of hundreds next year and the way that England are playing, particularly against this Kookaburra ball, I think it’s going to be a great contest.”

Root has scored 12,777 Test runs – the fifth-most in cricket history – including 35 centuries at an average of 50.90.

“That’s the only thing stopping Joe Root. He’s a great player, but is he an all-time great? I don’t have him in that realm,” Lehmann had said on ABC, talking about Root’s inability to score a century in Australia unlike Virat Kohli who on scored Sunday notched up his 7th 100 Down Under in the Perth Test.

Reacting to that, Joe Root said to BBC, “My job is to score runs, right? To turn up every game and try to do all I can out in the middle. His job is to give his opinion and talk on the radio.”

“I’ll do my job and he can do his job. He’s completely entitled to say what he wants. That’s his right,” the England batter added.

Lehmann had later clarify his comments on X, saying, “Just to be clear as there are a lot of people who think , that I think Joe root is not a great . He is going to be a great, I know that and a wonderful ambassador for our game but needs and he will probably do this next ashes . Get a hundred in Aus and then no dispute.”