Joe Root believes Jos Buttler’s appointment as England's Test vice-captain offers his team-mate the opportunity to show he can take over the top job in the future.
Buttler was something of a surprise inclusion in the squad for the recent Pakistan series, earning a recall after an 18-month absence on the back of his stellar form with the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL.
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Two half-centuries in three innings against Pakistan vindicated the selectors' brave call and on the eve of England's five-Test series with India, starting at Edgbaston on Wednesday, Buttler was confirmed as Root's new deputy.
"He's obviously vice-captain of the white-ball side, he thinks extremely well about the game, has got a huge amount of respect within the dressing room," Root told a media conference.
"And looking at very long term, like five to 10 years, I see him as someone who can really drive this team forward and I think it's a great opportunity for him to start doing that now.
"It might be that he's only played a couple of games since he's come back into the team, but I think he can offer a huge amount with the way he conducts himself, leads as well as what he does with the bat.
"So, it's a great chance for him for these five games and hopefully that can help this team in the future as well."
After a 1-0 defeat in New Zealand was followed by a 1-1 home draw with Pakistan, Root knows England's Test team must deliver more consistent performances if they are to topple Virat Kohli's number-one ranked side.
"It doesn't matter if we're favourites or not, we're going to have to play the best cricket if we want to win this series," he said.
"As you said, we've had two disappointing series this year so far in terms of results, but I thought the way we came back at Headingley against Pakistan was a real starting point for this group of players and an opportunity for us to build on it, and to build on something moving forward long term.
"That is ultimately where we're at. We've got five games against the world number-one ranked side where we can make a bit of a statement if we play well and we win this series.
"It's going to be be hard, obviously they've got some world class players throughout their team and we're going to have to be very consistent in performing. If we can do that, we'd be deserved winners."
