Joe Root has opted against returning to Rajasthan Royals for a second Indian Premier League campaign at the start of next year and has instead told his Yorkshire head coach Ottis Gibson that he intends to start his 2024 summer in county colours.

It is now about finding out from the England and Wales Cricket Board how many LV= Insurance County Championship fixtures he will be available for in April and May.

Any game time from Root would be welcome, as he did not play a single first-class match for Yorkshire last season.

The former England captain’s first international commitment of the home summer is likely to be the first Test against the West Indies at Lord’s on July 10.

He is currently out of England’s T20 plans, and they have the World Cup in that format in the Caribbean and the USA through June.

Gibson told Yorkshire’s website: “I had a chat on text with Rooty when he announced that he wasn’t going back to the IPL.

“He’s told me that he wants to play for us during the first half of the season.

“That’s the thing I love about Rooty. When he’s available, he wants to be around us. 

“The thing now is about trying to get an idea from the ECB as to how much he will be available.

“We have seven Championship games in eight weeks at the start of the season.

“If Rooty could play at least four of those, that would be absolutely tremendous, but I don’t know if that will happen.

“Rooty is looking forward to playing some games, but there’s no number on it yet. 

“I’ve said all along that when you look at our squad, especially with Dawid Malan not playing four-day cricket anymore, what we need is a senior batter in our middle order. 

“That could be a local batter or an overseas. Rooty gives us that seniority at number four. 

“The problem would come if he is only available for one or two games. That would leave us needing somebody else from overseas. 

“Myself and Goughie (Yorkshire’s managing director of cricket Darren Gough) are speaking about it all the time. We have conversations every week.”