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India vs England: Joe Root playing the reverse paddle stroke.© Twitter
England batsman Joe Root faced a torrent of criticism on Saturday after being dismissed for a reverse scoop that led to England’s collapse on the third day of the third Test against India. Root attempted to reverse India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah with a ball outside off stump at Rajkot but missed and was caught at second slip, his latest batting failure in the series.
His departure on the 18th opened the floodgates for India, who started the day on the wrong foot with Ravichandran Ashwin’s sudden departure from the match overnight to be with his ailing mother.
Cricketers and pundits said the former England captain, who recorded more than 11,000 runs in 138 Tests, had failed to fit into England’s “Bazball” brand of attacking cricket.
“Joe Root’s final Bazball shot is the stupidest in the history of English Test cricket,” read the headline of a scathing article by Telegraph cricket writer Scyld Berry.
Former captain Michael Vaughan wrote on
England resumed the day at 207-2 but were bowled out for 319, giving India a huge lead of 126.
Ben Duckett top-scored with 153 and captain Ben Stokes scored 41 in his historic 100th Test, but the rest of the batting collapsed. But Duckett defended his senior partner’s adventurous shot.
“I’d be interested to know if those people were against it when he did it to Pat Cummins and hit him for six in the summer,” Duckett told reporters.
“It’s the same as playing a reverse sweep and getting caught at the point,” he added. “That shot has been very successful for him over the past year, so next time he may miss.”
‘Wow, Joe Root’
Former England captain Nasser Hussain said critics should stop firing at a batsman who has had success with unorthodox shots.
“When he’s playing those reverse balls, the first ball of the day of an Ashes game and it’s six, we all jump and clap and say ‘wow, Joe Root’,” Hussain said on Sky Sports.
“And he does it to Bumrah and walks out, and we’re like ‘shame on you.'”
India fast bowler Mohammed Siraj returned figures of 4-84 to be the main destroyer of England’s batting with his yorkers and slower balls.
He said Root’s shot choice left him surprised and helped India come out ahead. “If he had played a little more, it would have been difficult for us,” Siraj said.
“All of a sudden he made that shot that wasn’t right. But it turned out good for us.”
Root, with scores of 29, two, five, 16 and 18, has failed to fire in the five-match series, which is tied 1-1.
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