Captaincy does not affect my batting – Joe Root

Warne, who raved about Jos Buttler's leadership abilities, believed dropping the captaincy would release the “shackles” on Root to allow him to rival the likes of Virat Kohli as the world’s No.1 Test batsman.

But rather than blaming the added pressure of captaincy, Root cited his failed experiment of moving up to No.3 against strong bowlers in tough batting conditions during the English summer.

Since he got the gig, Root has struggled to convert fifties to centuries but found form in the final match of the summer against India, hitting 125 at The Oval, having reverted to his preferred No.4 position.

Asked whether leadership was having a negative impact on his performance, Root told Sky Sports: “No, not at all. I think this summer batting at three was playing on my mind a little bit more than anything else.”

“The surfaces we were playing on made it very difficult at the top of the order: it was seaming and swinging for high-quality bowlers.There are always going to be question marks if you are not scoring the runs you have in the past or that you would like to, there is always going to be a reason behind it.

“I know what I need to do score runs. I felt like I overcame that at the back-end of the series against India and now I am ready to try and kick on.”

England will play three Tests against Sri Lanka at the conclusion of the five-match ODI series and one-off T20 encounter.