Kohli has his style of doing things, no hatred between anyone on field: England captain Joe Root
England captain Joe Root has downplayed the animosity between the India and England teams after anger flared during the 2nd test of the ongoing 5-match series at Lord’s.
It all started when Jasprit Bumrah and James Anderson had a go at each other on the penultimate day following which the emotions were charged up on the final day of the hard-fought Test in London.
India rode on the flared up atmosphere as Bumrah and Mohammed Shami frustrated England on Day 5 with a decisive 89-run stand that gave them a solid lead of 271 after they were looking down and out with a lead of only a little over 150 when Rishabh Pant departed for 20.
India pacers were fired up as the banters continued on the final day of the Lord’s Test. They needed only 51.5 overs to bowl England out for 120 and register a 151-run win, only their 3rd victory at the iconic venue against England in Tests.
The tension and flare-ups between the two teams were palpable but Root said there was no bad blood between them.
“Virat’s got his style and his way of doing things that’s probably contrasting naturally to the way I play my cricket. Fair play to Virat and his team, they’ve jumped on something emotional that’s given them an edge and something to cling on to tactically,” Root told reporters after their loss at Lords’.
“India as a side grabbed onto something and used that to their advantage on this occasion. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t think there is any nastiness or hatred there between anyone out there on the field.”
Root admits to tactical blunders on Day 5
Joe Root admitted to committing tactical blunders and said he underestimated the Indian lower-order after Shami and Bumrah’s heroics. England were in a dominant position before they lost control during a chaotic unbroken ninth-wicket stand of 89 between Shami (56 not out) and Bumrah (34 not out) on the final morning at Lord’s.
During the England first innings, Bumrah had dished out some short stuff against number 11 batsman James Anderson who copped few blows to his body and it seemed Root lost the battle in carrying out the payback.
There was a barrage of short balls when the Indian late order duo were at the crease. Root admitted the short-ball ploy against Shami and Bumrah failed.
“Looking back, I’d look at some of the field placings and the way we bowled. We could have looked at maybe attacking the stumps a little bit more frequently and using short ball as more of a surprise,” he said.
“We have to give them some credit. They scored in unusual areas and made it hard to set conventional fields and you were trying to manage taking wickets but not letting the game get away from us.
“But I would have taken a little bit more time and probably brought more modes of dismissal into the game sooner.”
Root, Jos Buttler (25) and Moeen Ali (13) were the only players to reach double figures, as their top-three — Rory Burns, Dom Sibley and Haseeb Hameed — cut a sorry figure with scores of 0, 0 and 9 in their second innings.
“I expected us to bat out so it’s disappointing we didn’t manage to. We need to score heavier. The guys will know that. Credit to India but I don’t think there is any hiding from the fact we need to get better.”
