Mohammed Siraj and Ben Duckett on Joe Root’s game-changing reverse sweep shot: ‘Achanak, pata nahi…’,’He played the same shot to Pat Cummins’
England were 224/3 on the third day of the third Test, with the Test series against India literally and figuratively at a central point, when it happened. In his Bazball avatar, Joe Root has made a habit of scoring via a reverse sweep – sometimes as many as six runs off one go. On this particular occasion however, it would be the unbecoming of him as the Englishman ended up holing it straight to the Yashasvi Jaiswal at second slip. A dismissal which set in motion an early collapse of the visitors in the first innings, handing India a sizeable first-innings lead.
India pacer Mohammed Siraj offered a summation that seemed most apt at the end of the day’s play.”Haan Haan..a partnership was developing and it could have got difficult for us. Achanak, pata nahi…and it was good for us. Stokes also played that big shot just two overs or so after lunch. It was good for us,” he’d say.
England opener Ben Duckett, who didn’t offer a wince following the dismissal from the non-striker’s end, had his fair share to say afterwards in the defence of the former English skipper. “I would be interested to see what people say…he played the same shot to Pat Cummins and hit him for a six in the summer. Next time he will hit it over the second slip,” Duckett said.
Lightning reflexes from Jaiswal! ⚡️👏
A bright start for Bumrah & #TeamIndia 😍💪 on Day 3! 🔥#INDvENG #JioCinemaSports #BazBowled #IDFCFirstBankTestSeries pic.twitter.com/y4FwWbIX5K
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) February 17, 2024
It wasn’t a first instance of Root departing as a result of the unorthodox shot. At the 50-overs World Cup in India last year, he’d tried the same off Logan Van Beek only to be nutmegged and cleaned up.
In a separate conversation with TNT Sports, Duckett would furthermore elaborate, “Rooty’s a freak: he does things a lot of us can’t do. In my eyes, that’s the same as playing a drive and nicking off to second slip.”
To understand Duckett’s point of view on the incident, one must fully buy into the Bazball mantra. In plain words from the opener, “I would much rather get out playing shot trying to put the bowler under pressure, rather than defending.”
The England opener, who was the bazballer-in-chief for the visitors in the first innings in Rajkot, also added more context to what would’ve led to the shot from Root despite the batting team being in a strong position.
“We honestly played well yesterday.” 207/2 from 35 overs of batting validating the same. “We had so much work to do today. It happened a bit fast. Stokes wanted us to get out there today and bowl at them, but it happened a bit earlier than what we planned. When you always take positive options, sometimes days like today can happen.”
With Root’s dismissal and England’s Bazball style bearing the brunt from pundits and fans alike, former English skipper Nasser Hussain also gave his two cents on the fickle nature of the aggressive style of play.
“His dismissal sums up where we are with Bazball: it will thrill and it will frustrate in equal measure,” Hussain told Sky Sports.
