Joe Root was out caught in the slips in England’s first innings in Rajkot having played a reverse scoop straight to Yashasvi Jaiswal at second slip. The selection of the shot less than half an hour into the morning session divided the commentators.
Root got off to a good start in the first four overs but was bowled out for 18. He has struggled so far in the series, leading on 29 after being dismissed by Jasprit Bumrah in two of his first four innings. In the second Test, he defeated R. Ashwin to end a busy innings.
After it was announced overnight that Ashwin would not play in the Tests, India were down by one bowler while England needed to extend their lead. They entered the third day with a lead of 238 points at 207 wins and 2 losses. Root, who beat Bumrah four times in two overs, played a reverse scoop shot in the next over, but misjudged and the ball ended up hitting Jaiswal, giving India a cheap wicket. As he left the field, he threw his head back and screamed in frustration.
In the next over, Jonny Bairstow failed for a duck and England eventually collapsed to 319 all out, conceding 231 runs in the first innings. Root’s shooting divided TV commentators.
“First of all, you can’t have your cake and eat it too,” said Dinesh Kartik. “If you’ve applauded him and enjoyed watching him push boundaries this past year, you should be okay with him coming out like that. Everything that’s an offensive option. There is always some kind of causal relationship between the shots in .Some days they reach the borderline, and other days they leave the borderline.How should we read that?
“I know in the locker room they had no problem with that shot, but a lot of people are going to say, ‘Was there a need for that?'” At this point in the game, That’s what I think as I watch it unfold. , when you talk about Test cricket as a whole, people are playing more attackingly and pushing more shots forward, and if I were Joe Root, I’d be perfectly fine with this dismissal. ”
Sunil Gavaskar also defended Root’s shot selection. “He will be very disappointed. We could see him being disappointed,” Gavaskar said. “Look, all shot selection comes down to shot execution. You play all kinds of shots and there’s nothing wrong with that, but if that execution isn’t right, you’re out, like a hook shot. You may be a very good hookshot player, but if he doesn’t execute the hookshot well, he may get caught. Same thing happened here.
“Every batter has a favorite shot. Sometimes you just end up with a favorite shot.” Like DK, he’s played it before and been successful, so criticizing this is a no-brainer. there is no. He was successful and scored many runs. ”
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Root has frequently used reverse ramps and scoops in test games in recent years. He was memorable for hitting Pat Cummins’ first ball with a reverse ramp on the fourth day of the first Ashes Test of 2023. Kartik mentioned this shot while defending Root’s dismissal in Rajkot.
“Just remember the ashes,” Kartik said. “If you remember, he hit it on the first ball of the day. On the first ball of the day, he scored a reverse sweep and got a boundary [Root was actually the first one Root attempted. [missed the reverse scoop on the ball]. There’s no debate as to whether the result is good and looks good, but if it’s not, then of course the debate will come back, and rightly so.”
Nick Knight, however, disagreed with both Gavaskar and Karthik, arguing that overcoming Bumrah’s opener would upset the balance between risk and reward of the shot, given the circumstances of the match.
“I just thought about the situation of the game. I was there as a commentator and watched it live, but I felt that England were in control for the first 15 minutes,” Knight said. “Joe Root was a little short on runs in the series and it looked like England were going to build on yesterday’s success. Bumrah, how much will he bowl? With Ashwin out, he’ll be bowling all day. Because you have to bowl a lot. I know he scored a lot of runs with that shot, but it’s the state of the game at that point.”
Root has not scored more than 50 in the last 12 Test innings in India. During this stay in India, he achieved an average of 16.36 points and a maximum score of 40 points.
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