England during India’s batting in the second innings on Day 3 at Vizag suffered a massive injury scare when Joe Root was forced to leave the field on day 3 of the Test match at Vizag after hurting his finger while fielding at slip and looking in pain. Joe Root was forced to spend most of the time off the field in the morning session and did not come out onto the field during India’s remaining 2nd innings.
Prolific batter Joe Root was compelled to leave the field due to a blow on his right little finger during Day 3 of the second Test against India in Visakhapatnam on Sunday. Joe Root suffered the injury in the 18th over of India’s second innings while attempting to catch an edge from Shubman Gill in the slips.
However as England faces a mammoth target of 399 to chase in the fourth innings it would be evident that the contribution from England’s most experienced and seasoned batter Joe Root would be vital for England in the second innings.
Attacking gameplan not quite successful for Joe Root
With the target of 399 to achieve for victory and two days remaining, it was expected that England’s talismanic batter Joe Root who has around 11000 runs to his name in the test arena, would be a thorn in India’s quest to victory and a vital cog in England’s pursuit of the target. However when Joe Root got injured on Day 3 and didn’t take the field for the entire day everyone do speculated about the batter’s availability to bat in the second innings due to injury.
Post dismissal of Ollie Pope , Joe Root took the field to bat but then his intentions with the bat stunned all the experts and fans around the globe as he followed an uncanny method of batting through his short lived innings at the crease and making everyone wondered what actually changed for a pure test batter to go T20 way . More than the way Joe Root batted his way of getting out did no good for England as they found themselves in more trouble in pursuit of 399.
England’s premier batter Joe Root played a horrendous shot at a critical stage of the game to be dismissed for 16 on Day 4 of the second Test against India. The 33-year-old spent most of Day 3 off the field due to a finger injury sustained in the eighth over of the morning. Although cleared to bat in England’s second innings, Root was in a hurry from the word go.
After a reverse swept boundary off his first delivery, the stylish batter got lucky with a similar attempt two balls later. Yet, Root continued batting aggressively despite the game situation and eventually perished in an attempt for a maximum on the leg side. His ungainly slog off Ravichandran Ashwin found Axar Patel at backward point, leading to England slipping to 154/4 in their run-chase of 399.
The champion batter has struggled throughout the series to balance attack and defense, scoring only 52 runs in four innings at an average of 13. Despite crossing the 1000-run mark in Tests in India during his brief stay, Root’s dismissal sunk England further in their already improbable chase.
Fans on Twitter condemned England’s Bazball approach for having a detrimental effect on Root’s batting lately and blasted the batter for playing a horrendous shot at that stage of the contest. Even former Indian wicket keeper batter now commentator Dinesh Karthik was left short of words seeing this bizarre batting from Joe Root and spoke openly about it.
Did Root play a poor shot? I think so for sure- Dinesh Karthik
Former Indian wicket keeper batter now commentator Dinesh Karthik believes Joe Root played a poor shot in the recently concluded second Test to continue his dismal run with the willow in the ongoing Test series in India.
The comments came as Root top-edged one to Axar Patel at backward point while trying to be aggressive in his approach despite batting on 16 runs off nine deliveries, which dented England’s chances of chasing 399. The right-hander’s false shot came after England lost two quick wickets in the morning session.
The wicketkeeper-batter reckons that Root should play reverse sweeps, instead of playing high-risk lofted shots. He recently told Cricbuzz:
“Joe Root is of the traditional mold but what he does when it comes to attacking intent would be playing the reverse sweeps, using the sweeps without thinking twice about the result. It is about expressing yourself without the fear of failure, that’s what Bazball should mean,”
Karthik continued:
“What Root did was attacking today and it was high-risk cricket and he knows Ashwin is a quality bowler, he’s not gonna away too many that gonna be put away that easily. So, did Root play a poor shot? I think so for sure.”
Joe Root has been dismal with the bat in the ongoing Test series in India. The 33-year-old has managed just 52 runs in four innings. However, he has the most runs in Tests between the two nations, having scored 2578 runs in 49 innings, with the aid of nine centuries and 10 fifties. Overall in his test career so far , Root has amassed 11,468 runs in 137 Tests, including 30 tons and 60 half-centuries.
There’s a difference between having intent and playing attacking cricket – Dinesh Karthik on Joe Root
Dinesh Karthik further elaborated on the flaws in Joe Root’s approach, which cost him his wicket in the second Test. The 38-year-old wants the legendary batter to stick to strengths instead of playing attacking shots to show his intent under the Bazball era. Karthik said:
“He [Joe Root] knows how to get to 400, three boundaries are not gonna make a difference. It’s about playing time with the same intent. The intent is okay. People need to understand one thing, there’s a difference between having intent and playing attacking cricket,”
He continued:
“When you have intent, it’s just I am looking to score under pressure which could mean good single, good defense, and showing intent means playing shots that are my strengths,”
Joe Root will now look to make amends with the bat in the third Test, scheduled to be played in Rajkot from February 15 and the whole of England will be hoping for their talismanic batter to come good as the series now stays tied 1-1 with 3 more matches to go.