Ace England batter Joe Root talked about the recent Test series against India and all the sledging that happened in the five closely fought matches. The series ended level at 2-2, with England winning in Headingly and Lord’s, while India triumphed at Edgbaston and Oval.
Joe Root has stated that the majority of sledging that occurs on a cricket pitch is merely for show, and when Mohammed Siraj engages in it, it is intended to generate a sense of pressure, theater, and mood on the field while ignoring the gravity of the issue.
With 537 runs at an incredible average of 67.12, Root was the second-highest run scorer in the five-match Test series between England and India. With a series-high 23 wickets at an average of 32.43, including two five-fors, Siraj was the standout bowler on both sides.
“I don’t know most of them really well, but a lot of the stuff you see on the screen (sledging), it is all for show. Someone like Siraj, it is all his way of creating an atmosphere, whether it be from the crowd or from his teammates.
Trying to create some form of pressure and theater that might give them a small edge. That is the art of the game, and the best person who has ever done it was Shane Warne,” Root said while speaking on Barmy Army’s YouTube channel.
Siraj's best performance came in the final innings of the fifth Test at the Oval, where he scored 5/104 to help India tie the series with a thrilling six-run victory over England.
Root also discussed his confrontation with Prasidh Krishna during the first innings of the last Test at the Oval.
“The first ball he hit me hard on the finger, and I was trying not to show any sort of emotion about it. And then I hit him for a four the next ball or the ball after, and he said something to me. I have no idea what he said. I just thought he wasn’t going to expect me to go back at him. There was an element of still being in a reasonable amount of pain. I think the situation kind of required it as well, where we were in the game," Root added.
Joe Root is the second-highest run-getter in Tests behind Sachin Tendulkar. He has 13543 runs in 158 tests at an average of 51.29 with 39 centuries and 66 fifties.
