England opener Ben Duckett has jumped to the defence of Joe Root despite the Yorkshireman’s ugly dismissal that sparked an England batting collapse and left India in the driving seat in the third Test.
Root directed a reverse ramp he has made a specialty in the last couple of years straight into the slip cordon off India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah as England crumbled from a competitive 2-224 to 319 all out and a first-innings deficit of 126 on Saturday.
Ashes 2005-winning captain Michael Vaughan tweeted Root is ‘far too good to gift India such a cheap wicket’, although it is a shot he has used 22 times in the past, bringing 60 runs and one dismissal – including some notable sixes off Australian quicks Pat Cummins and Scott Boland during the 2023 Ashes.
Firing back at Piers Morgan’s defence of England’s Bazball tactics, Vaughan urged Root to take a leaf out of captain Ben Stokes’ book and ‘play the situation’.
The Telegraph chief cricket writer Scyld Berry was even more scathing, describing Root’s shot as ‘the worst, most stupid, shot in the history of England’s Test cricket’.
“Every run that India score in their second innings will be a torment, because he [Root] knows that he could still have been batting, had he not yielded to impulse,” Berry wrote.
“Never mind, for the moment, the team strategy of Bazball: what mattered was the situation of the game, the current circumstances, the here and now. And what Root did flew in the face of what everything dictated, as he himself realised in his moment of wisdom after the event, when he stomped off furious with himself.”
After India ended day three 322 ahead on a Rajkot pitch showing signs of sharp turn, Duckett argued the out-of-form Root, who is yet to pass 30 in five attempts in this series, was correct to go for it.
“I’d be interested to know if those people were against it when he was doing it to Pat Cummins and hitting him for six in last summer’s Ashes,” Duckett said. “I’ve no words for it.
“It’s the same as me playing a reverse sweep and getting caught at point. Options are practised and that shot has been very successful for him over the past year, so next time it may go over slip.”
Duckett was seen off by a Kuldeep Yadav long hop after a majestic 153 off 151 balls while Ben Stokes, on his 100th Test, holed out to cow corner on 41 but Root’s downfall was the major talking point.
India were effectively down to 10 men without Ravichandran Ashwin, who can only be replaced in the field and not as a batter or bowler following his overnight withdrawal because of a family emergency.
But England lost their last five wickets in 38 balls before Yashasvi Jaiswal ground them into the dirt – despite their willingness in sapping heat – as India went to stumps on 2-196.
Jaiswal followed up his sparkling double century in Visakhapatnam with 104 before retiring hurt with a sore back and Duckett believes the 22-year-old is taking his cues from England’s attacking style.
“We saw it a bit in the summer and it’s quite exciting to see other players and other teams are also playing that aggressive style of cricket,” said Duckett.
“He looks like a superstar in the making, unfortunately he’s in some very good form at the moment. He’s due a couple of low ones.”
Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal has smashed a rapid hundred before retiring hurt as India stretched their overall lead to 322 with eight wickets in hand to take control of the third Test against England.
The hosts are left with 10 players for the rest of the match after Ravichandran Ashwin withdrew on Friday night due to a family emergency.
But Mohammed Siraj (4-84) and Kuldeep Yadav (2-77) made up for the offspinner’s absence on Saturday as they combined to skittle out England – who had started the day on a solid 2-207 – for 319 in reply to India’s first innings 445.
India finished day three on 2-196 but Jaiswal, struggling with a back spasm, had to retire hurt after his scintillating 104, which included five sixes and nine fours.
But Shubman Gill was still going strong on 65 with nightwatchman Kuldeep on three at the other end.
“Since Ashwin is not available, the responsibility was on other bowlers to deliver,” Siraj said afterwards.
“Initially, they went after us but we waited for them to make mistakes and did not try anything extraordinary.”
There was no inkling of England’s batting meltdown when they resumed play with eight wickets left at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium.
For many it was Joe Root’s debatable reverse scoop when on 18 – attempted against India’s premier bowler Jasprit Bumrah – that shifted the momentum in the hosts’ favour.
Root has not been in great form in this series, and his lean run continued as Jaiswal took the tricky catch at second slip.
It was the ninth time in 21 Test innings that Root has fallen to his Indian nemesis.
Kuldeep bowled a terrific spell that had not just the English batters but even India wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel guessing which way the ball would turn.
The left-arm wrist spinner trapped Jonny Bairstow lbw for a duck and was pleasantly surprised when his ordinary delivery ended Duckett’s blistering 153, which contained two sixes and 23 fours.
Spilled by Rohit in the slip before he completed 150, Duckett slapped a half-tracker from Kuldeep to Gill at cover.
England were pushed further on to the back foot after the lunch break when they lost two wickets in two balls.
Skipper Ben Stokes (41) slog-swept Ravindra Jadeja to Bumrah, while Ben Foakes (13) was snapped up at mid-on by Rohit.
Siraj (4-84) went on to york Rehan Ahmed and James Anderson as England gave up their last five wickets for a paltry 20 runs.
Root dismissed Rohit for 19 when India came out to bat in their second innings but Jaiswal tore into the England attack to swell India’s lead.
The left-hander brought up his hundred with a four off Mark Wood and then dropped his bat, removed his gloves and stood in the middle blowing kisses and looking skywards in celebration.
Gill brought up his fifty soon after that with a six off Wood as India threatened to bat England out of the contest.
Duncan Smith
Roar Guru
I think it's brilliant captaincy by India to put two leg slips for Root. Not many captains in test history have done that.
Blink
Roar Rookie
Seems like a weak capitulation by the Poms. India declares at 450/4 and the Poms 2 hours later are 53/7. We'de be calling it a doctored pitch but even that doesn't get close to this debacle.
Nathan Absalom
Roar Guru
If they expect quality, independent decision making from Root I guess they weren't paying much attention to his captaincy over the years. Slow wicket, skiddy bowler, two slips and a gully are all pretty good indicators that a reverse scoop isn't the shot to play. I understand that Root is playing that shot to change Bumrah's line and length and strategy, but there's more than one way to attack. Maybe just chalk it up to experience and pick the bowlers and conditions where not to play the shot. But, honestly, the quality of English batting when they're trying to bat time, as seen in the last two tours of Australia, is so dire that I don't think a few crazy dismissals should be of concern.
Ben Pobjie
Expert
Either you say “play whatever shot you want whenever you want to”, or you don’t. I think the England players and coaches will probably be fine with it. I’m interested in how Root himself felt. I wonder if he’s thinking “c’est la vie” or cursing himself?
Jack
Roar Rookie
Thats 100% my point. Batting is risk v reward. The odds in that situation given the bowler and the variable bounce made that a low percentage play. There were half a dozen better options he could and should have taken. You combine that with his reputation as one of the best of his generation and the match situation and its just dumb cricket.
Tempo
Roar Rookie
The English media reaction to Bazballis hilarious. After Day 2 India were rattled (time for them to find a new word?) and the Anthony de Mello trophy was coming home. Now they are a bunch of no hopers playing the dumbest shots in test match history. Scyld Berry epitomises this - there’s an image going around showing his article from June gushing about Root playing the same shot for 6, now it’s the worst shot in history because the outcome was different. England are set up to play extreme cricket, so they are going to have high highs and low lows. Those extremes are amplified by their over the top press.
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
I can certainly understand why people are upset, Dave. He's the one batsmen in their team who can score both quickly and freely without the need to play high risk shots. Right now though, his mindset seems to be proving he's one of the boys.
Tempo
Roar Rookie
It’s a premeditated shot, he can’t decide to play it when he knows where the ball is going to pitch, he has to decide before the ball is released. But yeah, Bumrah is not a great bowler to play that shot against as he mixes things up, bowls yorkers etc rather than metronomic line and length. So there’s a much higher chance that the ball won’t be in the right spot compared to other bowlers.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Fair enough. They said he’s got out nine times to the reverse sweep in 13 Tests. I assume they mean his last 13. He’s averaged 45 with a scoring rate of 76 in his last ten, compared to 50 @ 55 before that. Not a serious dip considering several of those tests against Australia and India, but I’d say he was doing just fine before that.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
That doesn’t equate to “bottle it”, which means a lack of courage.
Ace
Roar Rookie
I agree with Arnab. I always think Root is the anchor of this team and he should have been the one to hold up one end to form partnerships. But he's played the shot and can reflect on it Now I'd like to see him help save the match.
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
I read that same article earlier JW and got the impression the author expects England to make a lot of runs, really quickly, all the time. He just doesn't get what a massive gamble their batting strategy really is. As you say, it's a roll of the dice.
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
"there should be some situational awareness" I don't disagree Billy, but then again, how does that fit into the Bazball ethos the Pommie batting lineup has all bought into? There seems to be a large element of "see ball, hit ball" with no repercussions about the outcome, at least, not within the England squad. Root was clearly annoyed when the catch was taken, but was that because he failed to execute properly and got out, or because he played a high risk shot at the wrong time? If it was the second, he clearly needs to go back to his normal batting methods which IMO would be perfect for this lineup. If it's the first, he won't change his methods and he'll likely get out more times looking ugly like he did yesterday.
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
I don't disagree but then again, I can't really grasp exactly what mindset Bazball entails. If you look at some of Stokes innings, he starts off really slowly, then suddenly explodes which is not that much different from what normal batsmen do. Presumably that's Bazball? If so, Root needs to go back to doing something similar, but right now his version of Bazball includes these super high-risk shots at any point in his innings.
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
It appeared to be a dumb shot but if it had come off, it would have been a genius shot. That's what you get when you embrace Bazball. Root believed that was the right shot to play and it didn't work out. Duckett's shot to get out was worse, but nobody's saying anything about that. Ditto with Stokes. That's the way they bat.
JW
Roar Rookie
I know, this on the BBC “ Making sense of the highs and lows of this England team is harder than putting spilled milk back into the bottle. The highs have become regular and often mountainous. They make the lows all the more unfathomable.” Unfathomable? Not sure this bloke should be a cricket journalist if he can’t understand that Bazzball is basically just rolling the dice. Full article https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/68326425
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Its a missed opportunity if a team is a bowler down tiring them out by making them bowl for longer should have been the priority and the way to win batting second in India is to outscore the opposition and make them bat later. It depends of the circumstances, Australia bazballed their way to defeat in the last test match, because they ignored they had Steve Smith well set at the other end, but then when Steve Smith did the ramp shot with men on the boundary it was fine because he was left with only Hazelwood. If Root had waited till their bowlers were tired and he was very well set then there was less chance of it failing and even if it did fail then the new batsman would be facing a tired attack.
BillyW
Roar Rookie
Clearly there should be some situational awareness....that ball may have taken the outside edge of a Root forward defense for all we know but the odds are way less likely (and we would have been praising the delivery instead anyway!) Root can play a long game loses his wicket like that and then Stokes has to play within himself....and he should be the one with the freedom to throw his wicket away at any given moment!
Arnab Bhattacharya
Roar Guru
Because India have lost their premier bowler. Yesterday was a great day to bat on as now it'll be playing tricks almost every ball. England bowled for over 120 overs in the first innings. They didn't get to a lead and batted 70. Anderson won't be bowling at his best. Wood with his injury issues might have to over bowl with bugger all rest time thanks to the sheer stupidity of England's shot selections yesterday.
mrl
Roar Rookie
Caught at leg-slip?