England batter Joe Root and Indian cricket team fast bowler Prasidh Krishna got into a heated verbal spat during Day 2 of the fifth Test match at The Oval .England batter Joe Root and Indian cricket team fast bowler Prasidh Krishna got into a heated verbal spat during Day 2 of the fifth Test match at The Oval on Friday.
Tempers flared during the second session of the day as the two cricketers got into a war of words. Root was not happy with Prasidh saying something to him and he walked down the pitch to confront the pacer. Root slammed a boundary on the very next delivery and more words were exchanged with Prasidh Krishna . The on-field umpires had to get involved and after a chat with both cricketers, the situation was diffuse.
The Prasidh Krishna- Joe Root verbal spat on the adds spice to the 5th Test at Oval.
Day 2 of the ongoing fifth and final test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025 saw the Indian team attempting to claw their way back into the game with their bowling attack. The game has seen Team India post a total of 224 runs in the first innings of the game, and through their bowling attack, India limited hosts England to 247 runs in the first innings.
One of the biggest moments from England’s batting innings came when ace batter Joe Root got into a verbal spat with India pacer Prasidh Krishna. With England in command of the game at 129/2, Root came out to bat, but he was only able to add 29 runs on the board before he was sent packing by Prasidh Krishna.
The Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy has already had a lot of spice, and things are getting spicier with each passing minute. The second day of the fifth and final Test between India and England saw Joe Root and Prasidh Krishna going at each other as the duo exchanged words with no one taking a back seat. Soon, the on-field umpires had to intervene to separate the two. Quite contrary to his calm nature, the England No.4 was aggressive right from the very start, and he didn’t take kindly to the verbals thrown by Prasidh Krishna as he was running into the bowl.
It all started with Prasidh Krishna having a word or two to say to Joe Root on the fifth ball of the 22nd over. Then, on the very next delivery, the England batter smashed the pacer for a boundary. More words were exchanged as Root and Prasidh Krishna had a go at each other. The umpires got involved as well, and the rest of the Indian players also came charging in to add spice to the conversation. When Root was speaking to the on-field umpire Ahsan Raza, Mohammed Siraj was standing nearby, observing the chatter.
“It’s highly unusual to see Joe Root as animated as he was in that moment. Quite a cheery soul, but not on that occasion,” said former England captain Michael Atherton on air.
Former Team India head coach Ravi Shastri said that with Root being aggressive, the visitors will get a clear message about his intentions.
“Both teams fired up. What it would really do is send a clear message to India that there would be a clear intent from Joe Root. He will be looking to score and looking to be more positive,” said Shastri.
“There is a sense of purpose, even when he walked back to his guard. You can see that in his eyes,” he added.
However, in his short-lived innings, Root was agitated with Krishna telling him that he looked ‘in great shape’; shortly after the exchange of words, Root hit the very next ball for a boundary and went on to exchange more words with Krishna. The same saw the umpires being involved as well.
Speaking on the same, Prasidh Krishna revealed that he did not know why Root reacted the way he did and instigating him was a definite plan by Indian pacers.
Prasidh Krishna opens up on his verbal spat with Joe Root on Day 2 at Oval Test
Indian fast-bowler Prasidh Krishna has revealed he told England’s Joe Root that he was ‘looking in great shape’ during the fifth Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, which led to ‘a lot of abuse’ and an ugly on-field spat between the two. Prasidh was slammed on social media for riling up someone with as clean an image as Root, but according to the Karnataka man, even he didn’t expect ‘such a big reaction’.
The incident happened soon after Root came to the crease in the second innings of the Test. His face turned red after the conversation, and he hit a few boundaries against Prasidh, who responded with a couple of bouncers in anger. Umpire Kumar Dharmasena didn’t take long to involve himself in it, following Prasidh like a hawk from thereon. He was heard having chats with KL Rahul and captain Shubman Gill, who didn’t seem pleased with being asked to control the verbal attacks.
“I don’t know why Rooty [reacted],” Prasidh told the BBC’s Test Match Special.
“I just said, ‘You’re looking in great shape,’ and then it turned into a lot of abuse and all of that.
Later, at the press conference, Prasidh Krishna was asked if the plan was to distract the Englishman.
“That was the plan, but I didn’t expect the couple of words I said to get such a big reaction from him,” Prasidh said.
Prasidh Krishna also conceded that Root was a legend of the game.
“That’s just who I am when I’m bowling, when I’m enjoying. If it means that I have a bit of a chatter with the batter… and it does help me when I can get under the nerves of the batsman and get a reaction from them. But I love the guy that he is. He is a legend of the game and I think it is great when two people are out there wanting to do the best and be a winner at a given moment,” he added.
Eventually, Root got out LBW to Mohammed Siraj. England folded for 247, only 23 runs ahead of the visitors, and the third essay yielded 75/2 led by Yashasvi Jaiswal’s fifty before Stumps. By Stumps, India had erased the deficit and moved to 75/2 in their second innings, with Yashasvi Jaiswal unbeaten on 51 and night-watchman Akash Deep on 4. They will start Day 3 with a 52-run lead and would hope to strengthen it even more further.
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