Sunil Gavaskar praised Joe Root for his brilliant century in the fourth Test being played between India and England in Ranchi, but the Indian great also pulled his leg over his “reverse-scoop” shot.
Root scored the 31st century of his Test career in the ongoing Ranchi Test against India while adopting a more traditional approach, opposite to England's famous “Bazball” style.
The former England skipper showed great patience and resilience during his unbeaten knock of 122 off 274 balls after an early batting collapse and helped the tourists post 353 runs in the first innings after they were tottering at 112/5.
Gavaskar praised Root for showcasing patience but humorously expressed his disappointment that the England star didn’t play a reverse scoop to reach his century during the final session of play on Day 1.
Sunil Gavaskar said while doing commentary on Day 1 of the Ranchi Test: “Yes, superb innings. It was a proper Test match innings. Old-fashioned Test match innings, you would say. But I have got to say, I am a little disappointed.”
Gavaskar added, “I am a disappointed man because I really wanted him to play a scoop shot to get to his hundred, that reverse scoop. Get to 99, play the reverse scoop, and then play the hundred, and then the crowd goes 'Rooooot'. Particularly the box on our right (England comm box).”
Meanwhile, Root responded to Gavaskar's lighthearted comment about the 'reverse-scoop shot' by revealing that the idea did cross his mind briefly as he approached his hundred in Ranchi.
Root further revealed that he opted against attempting the shot in Ranchi due to the challenging nature of the pitch, which offered uneven bounce, as England had already lost early wickets on Day 1 against India.
Root had faced criticism for playing the shot in the third Test off Jasprit Bumrah, which costed him his wicket, and it led to England's dramatic collapse, and the tourists lost the game by 434 runs.
Joe Root told Gavaskar during his chat with Sports 18 on Saturday: “It did briefly cross my mind. On that wicket, it's not a great option. If you look at it, the previous wicket (Rajkot pitch) was not that bad, but it's unfortunate that it kept a bit low. That's how it goes sometimes.”
The senior batter added, “But, contributing to this series was good. It was a lean series for me, I was desperate to get some runs for the guys and it was nice to do that today. Hopefully, I can continue to do that for the rest of the series.”
Speaking about regaining his form, Root said: “I think that's how I try and play every game, play the conditions and the situations of the game. It was very obvious what was needed in that situation on that surface. Thankfully, it paid off and we got ourselves into a nice position in the first innings.”
He signed off by saying, “We will see how things progress. Obviously, it looks like it would keep deteriorating and keep getting worse. If we can get 3 early wickets tomorrow, that puts in a really strong position for the rest of the game.”
(With PTI Inputs)
