'Root was doing so much behind the scenes that people don't see,' says Mark Wood

Former England skipper Joe Root recently handed over the captaincy baton to Ben Stokes. Although England had some terrible outings in Tests during Root's tenure, the stylish Yorkshire prodigy's performance reached new heights, leading from the front with the bat.

However, the English pacer Mark Wood recently revealed that Root was involved in doing many positive things behind the scenes for the team's betterment which went unnoticed. As per the tearaway fast bowler, Root believed in his abilities and persisted with him despite his injury issues, which resulted in his evolution. As Wood put it, Root was trying everything in his capacity for the team's success, but unfortunately, it didn't quite pan out on a happy note. 

"I do feel sorry for Joe. I think it's worth saying that. I actually did really well under Joe's captaincy myself. He gave me an opportunity, even with injury, he could have quite easily said, 'no, that's enough'. But he's stuck with me and gave me a clear plan. I felt like we let him down quite a bit. He was doing so much behind the scenes that people don't see," Wood said during an interaction with 'The Mirror'. 

To justify his point, Wood cited some of Root's off-field efforts such as working on the bowlers' batting abilities in the nets, upholding the culture of the team, and providing to-do lists to the teammates in a planned manner; all of these were intended to bring positive results on the field. 

In the end, the 32-year-old pacer from Northumberland said that if the consistently poor results were affecting Root personally, then he would consider his decision of stepping down as England's Test skipper as a correct one.

"He would stay behind and work on batting with me after his net. He was doing so much with trying to get it right, the culture of the team, he was getting people in to do sessions, and he did everything he could to try and improve the results but it just wasn't happening. But I'm happy he's made the decision. If it's affecting him as a person behind the scenes at home or with his family, then that's no good," the seamer concluded. 

To note, Wood played 17 of his 26 Tests under Root's captaincy, in which he picked 55 wickets at a healthy average of 29.94. However, despite being an extremely talented bowler, Wood has played just 102 international matches in a career spanning over seven years due to frequent injury setbacks.